If God were a DJ
Ever looked at your life and thought it has turned out a lot different to what you ahd expected it to? Roger Davies lifts the lid on what influences our decisions in life and challenges us to make sure that we are listening to the right songs being sung in our ears.
Eric Liddle won a gold medal in the 400 metres in the 1924 Olympic Games held in Paris. But he very nearly did not run! His rugby coach wanted him to keep playing for Scotland, but he refused to listen and joined the British Olympic Team instead. His sister wanted him to go to China as a missionary (which he later did), but he refused to listen and he went to Paris instead.
Why did Eric refuse to listen to other voices speaking in his ear? Because he knew the purpose for which he was alive. In the film “Chariots of Fire” that tells his story, he outlines his belief: “God made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure”! The voice Eric listened to was the voice of his Heavenly Father’s approval and the result was gold.
So which voice do you listen to? Which CD is playing on the tracks of your mind? If God were a DJ would he tell you to put another CD on because you are listening to the wrong kind of music with the wrong kind of lyrics? The CD you listen to will determine how you see yourself, and the destiny you consequently walk into. Your future depends on playing the right CD.
Three million Israelites were camped on the borders of rich, fertile land God had promised to give them. Moses sent out 10 men to check out what the land was like. Sure enough they saw how good it was: fresh stream waters, fertile soil, and healthy livestock. The snag was that there were also soldiers and warriors living there in fortified towns. Instead of playing God’s CD full of His future promises to give them the land, and past miracles of provision and deliverance, eight of the men played a different CD of fear and negativity. It gave them a wrong image of themselves, so instead of regarding themselves as God’s chosen people, they reduced themselves to “grasshoppers in our own eyes” (Numbers 13:31-33). The result of their thinking was that they never possessed the land and spent their lives aimlessly wandering in a desert.
We need to learn from this tragedy, take off the old CDs playing in our minds and put on God’s CD. There are three CD’s that you may have been listening to for far too long:
CD 1. Title: Who I Think I Am
So many of us think we know ourselves. Yet the labels we use to describe ourselves are generally inaccurate or only half true: overweight, useless, unpopular, no good, weak….Gideon was a man like that. He thought of himself as the “least in his family” and saw his family as the weakest of all the families in his tribe (Judges 6:15). That’s not a particularly great CD to be listening to everyday in your head. The end result was he was too scared to go out into the open and instead he hid away in the hills. Yet when God speaks to him through an angel, Gideon is addressed as a “mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12). How brilliant that the creator of the Universe saw Gideon completely differently to the way Gideon viewed himself. And once Gideon started listening to God’s estimation of him he became ……. a mighty warrior.
Throw away the CD of how you see yourself. Start to play God’s thoughts about you, which outnumber the grains of sand on a beach (Psalm 139:17). He made you unique, He has placed a priceless value on your life and thinks you are amazing!
CD 2. Title: What Others Think About You
It is very easy to become overly concerned by other people’s opinions about us. We have to learn to care only about pleasing God and not pleasing others so that we can achieve all He has planned for us. Ehud was a man like that. We are told that he was left handed (Judges 3:15). In other words he could not use his right hand, probably because it was shrivelled and deformed. People focused in his right hand, how he could not use a sword with it, and therefore saw him as docile and powerless to impact change. But God had other ideas and so did Ehud because he did not accept other people’s opinions.
His withered hand meant he was chosen as an envoy to represent his people before a ruling foreign king. He was not seen as a threat or a security risk. This enabled him to get alone with the foreign king and as he drew close to pass on a message he pulled out a concealed sword with his left hand, killing the king and liberating his people.
A sculptor passes a farmer’s house and sees an old gnarled tree stump in his garden. The farmer lets him have the tree stump which he takes home and places on a table in the centre of his workshop. All night he masterfully carves the old wood until at sunrise the gnarled stump has disappeared to be replaced by a beautifully sculptured eagle. The sculptor places it outside his house and the farmer passes. He thinks it is fabulous and so buys it from the sculptor to place as an ornament in his farmhouse.
God is like the sculptor in this story. He sees incredible potential and awesome gifts and qualities that with his love, patience and insight can be released. God is sculpting your life. So don’t allow other people to label you as old, gnarled, worthless and unwanted. Change the CD playing in your mind and listen to the voice of the master Sculptor who has prepared good works in advance for you to do (Ephesians 2:10).
CD 3. Title: Past Experiences
We all allow our past to shape our perception of ourselves. Most often it is some kind of failure that limits our expectations for the future. Samson was a man like that. He had been set apart by God to deliver his people from their enemies. But he got sidetracked from his purpose by a woman called Delilah. Although God had given Samson incredible strength, he also had major weaknesses in his character and he was seduced into giving away the secret of his strength. Delilah cut off his hair as he slept and handed him over to his enemies. Thrown into a prison with his eyes gouged out, he had every reason to wallow in self pity.
Yet Samson was still looking to fulfil God’s purpose for him. His hair and strength grew back and when his opportunity came, he pulled down a temple killing himself and thousands of his people’s enemy in the process. It says in Judges 16:30 that he “killed more when he died that when he lived”.
No matter what you have done in your past, God is kind and faithful, he wants to restore you and use you. Even when we are faithless, He cannot deny himself and continues to believe in us and commit himself to us. Stop looking back wishing you could change your past and move on into an awesome future knowing your God is the God of the second, third and fourth chance. Throw away the CD of past failure and listen to the CD of God’s everlasting covenant (Hebrews 8:10-12).
If God were a DJ, He would tell you to play another CD on the player in your mind. That’s because the problem is not what God thinks about us, but what we think God thinks about us. Once we start thinking God’s thoughts, we see ourselves differently, and walk with confidence into an awesome destiny He has already planned for us.
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