EMPTY MANGERS

Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest. - Proverbs 14:4

When Jesus came into this world, He chose to be born in a most unusual place-a manger. It was no more than a livery stable with goats, oxen, and other livestock animals. There is a distinctive characteristic about a place like this. It is filled with odors and dung from the animals. God seems to work best among the unpleasantness of circumstances. In fact, "where there are no oxen, the manger is empty." What is this really saying? I believe it is saying that in order for Jesus to be present, we must invite those things that bring with them "messes to clean up." God works among the messy things in our lives. And from these messes come an abundant harvest. This is what He did with all His highly used servants in the Bible. God is filled with paradoxes. Why can't life be seamless and smooth? Because God likes to show Himself in the midst of the messes of life. This is what brings us into the harvests. So often the bigger the mess, the bigger the harvest.

When a major road-construction project takes place in a crowded city street, it appears to be absolute chaos. It is inconvenient, slow-moving and tends to get us irritated because it appears we are moving much slower than we would like. It is ugly, and so much of what we see is torn up. But when we look at that same area a few months or years later, we see why the construction was necessary. There was meaning to the mess. It actually made life so much better for those who would use the road.

It has been through the messiest of times in my business and personal life that God has revealed His power and strength in my life. It was when these "oxen" of hardship have walked into my manger that the greatest harvest was manifest. However, when I have sought to remove the "oxen" and rid myself of the odor and the mess, I have fought the ultimate work of God.

God works in mangers.

DEEP THINGS

"He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light" (Job 12:22).

One of the great mysteries of the Kingdom is how God uses the darkest times in our lives to reveal greater depths of understanding of His ways. The only way we can receive these deeper things is to be driven to the depths of darkness. It is here that we discover important truths that He plans to use in our lives and the lives of others.

There is a process God uses to draw us into greater levels of intimacy. The first phase involves a depth of soul experience that causes great pain in our lives. We seek God for deliverance from the incredible emotional pain this causes. Our primary motivation for seeking God is to get out of our pain.

During this time, God meets us in the depths of darkness. We discover that He never left us but is in the midst of the darkness. We develop a new relationship with God. Gradually our motivation turns from removal of pain to love and intimacy with God. This is the place our Heavenly Father desires us to be.

During this season God will make spiritual deposits into your life. Others will be making withdrawals in the future from your life as well. You see, God reveals deep things in darkness that will be revealed in the light.

If you find yourself in great distress, know that God will bring your deep shadows into the light. The key to your deliverance is becoming satisfied in God. He becomes your all. He is your life. You will know your deliverance is near when your circumstances simply don't matter to you anymore.

Love the Lord your God with all your soul and see what things He will show you in the deep things of darkness.

CALLED TO SOMEONE VERSUS SOMETHING

"But the Lord said to Ananias, 'Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name'"(Acts 9:15-16).

Sometimes we can place the idea of calling too much on the thing we do versus the One we are called to serve. Paul said that he was "called to be an apostle." This has made some feel that if we each do not have a "special call" then we are second class citizens.

Paul saw his calling like any other believer's call to salvation and obedience. We cannot negate the fact that God did call Paul in a dramatic encounter with the Lord that had broad significance to the rest of the Body of Christ. And, there are assignments that are going to impact the Body of Christ more than others. However, this is not the case for every believer and we should not feel slighted should we not have the same level of call.

Every believer shares the same basic calling with Paul, "as a bondservant of Jesus Christ, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ," as he says in (Romans 1:6). Paul was saying to the Roman Christians their call was the same as his. They were not all apostles, but they were all "called of Jesus Christ."

For most of us, God will work out His calling upon our lives in many different and varied ways. Like Paul and the rest of the New Testament Christians, we are all called with the same glorious calling and thus stand as equals before God.

LOST DONKEYS

"Now the donkeys belonging to Saul's father Kish were lost" (1 Sam 9:3).

God used adversity to call the first king of Israel. In 1 Samuel 9 and 10, we find Saul working in the family business, employed by his father, Kish. In Bible times, donkeys represented trade and commerce, for they were the primary means of transporting goods.

Some of Kish's donkeys were missing, so Kish told his son Saul to take a servant with him and go find the missing donkeys. Saul and the servant traveled the countryside three days in search of the missing donkeys - but without results. Saul thought his father might worry about him, so he told the servant, "Let's go back."

The servant replied, "Look, in this town there's a man of God, a prophet. Let's go see him and maybe he will tell us which way to take." In today's terminology, it was time to call in a consultant.

So Saul and the servant went through the town and the prophet - a man named Samuel - was walking toward them along the street. As Samuel walked toward Saul, God told the prophet, "The man who is approaching is the one I told you about. He will be the leader of My people."

Saul stopped Samuel in the street and said, "Sir, would you please tell me how to find the house of the prophet?"

"I'm the prophet you're looking for," Samuel replied. "Today you'll have dinner with me and tomorrow I'll tell you everything that is in your heart."

Saul's pathway to leadership led through the experience of a business setback: a missing herd of donkeys. God arranged every step of Saul's journey.

It was God who sent the donkeys away, which made it necessary for Saul to go searching for them. When Saul was ready to give up the search, God arranged for the servant to suggest that they look for a prophet in a nearby city. The Lord spoke to the prophet and told him to expect Saul's arrival. There was not a single detail left to chance. God's plan worked flawlessly.

So it is in your life and mine. God is in control of every detail in your life.

OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work" (2 Cor 9:8).

Have you ever been given an assignment at work that was beyond your perceived ability? Read Os Hillman testimony

"When I was in my late twenties I made a career change which necessitated a job change. I decided to apply for a job that involved selling advertising on golf score cards. Usually this meant going into small towns and making sales calls to small business owners in that community. Not an easy job for a rookie in his first sales job.

At first the two non-Christian owners refused to hire me because my answers to their questions led to me discussing my faith in Christ. They felt I should be in the ministry, not sales. However, they reluctantly decided to take a chance on me and sent me to small towns inKentucky to sell golf scorecards in the middle of winter. Little did I know that they were trying to set me up for failure and did not think I had any chance of success.

I got into my Volkswagen bus and headed for the hills of Kentucky. As I took on my new job I told the Lord I was not qualified for this and He would have to help me to be successful. After a week of selling and sleeping in my car at night, I returned with a full inventory of sales from several cities. When I walked into the office and met with the owners, they looked at me with total surprise. They could not believe I had been successful. I would go on to work two years at this company, become an executive with them, and play a key role in leading one of the partners to Christ".

Do you have a major challenge in your work life? Ask God to help you be successful in your assignment. God delights in showing His children His power so you can abound in your good work.

FROM THE DESERT TO THE PROMISE LAND

"The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan" (Josh 5:12).

God calls you to eat from the fruit of your own work. During the exodus from Egypt, Israel had to eat manna, the supernatural provision of God because there was no ability to make a living in the desert. However, the moment they stepped into the Promised Land the manna stopped because God had brought them into a new place. The new land could yield food and provision for their families. They simply had to work it.

For most of us God has provided us an ability to derive our provision from the work He has called us to do. God made a covenant with His people that provision would always be there if we were faithful to His commands.

"You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock - the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out" (Deut 28:3-6).

In order for this promise to be fulfilled we must fulfill His requirements. We must love the Lord our God with all our hearts and minds. And we must avoid having any idols in our lives that will take the place of God.

Every believer is called to come out of "Egypt" and enter into our own Promised Land. He has already set aside the land for you. It is your responsibility to prepare yourself to be able to derive the fruit from your land.

"The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands" (Deut 28:12).

THE PROPER FOUNDATION

Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. - Psalm 127:1a

Imagine spending years building an expensive home with the finest materials and craftsmanship. It is a work of art, and the project is almost complete. As the day arrives to move in, a building inspector arrives and hands you a notice that condemns your beautiful home because it doesn't meet code.

Many Christian workplace believers who invest years in their businesses will one day stand before the Lord and realize they were building the house, not the Lord. God is very picky about motives behind the actions. Before we act, we must ask why? Why are we doing what we are doing? Has God called us to this task? Or is the real motive purely financial? Or control. Or prestige.

If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work (1 Corinthians 3:12-13).

David learned this principle by the end of his life. Throughout his life he had learned that God always tested him to find out what was in his heart, and what his motive was in his actions. David instructed his son to "...acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts" (1 Chron. 28:9a).