The China Horse

I have a little china horse sitting on a shelf in my bedroom, simply waiting to be held and fondled by a pair of young, admiring hands.  The only problem lies in the fact that he's missing two legs, and an ear.  Amazingly enough, he still stands there, propped up against a whiteboard, waiting.  He's broken, and waiting to be fixed.  He's feeling unwanted, and he's waiting to be loved again.  Every time I look at him, it reminds me a bit of the Velveteen Rabbit—are toys really lonely when they're left, unwanted, or broken? 

Though my younger siblings may contradict me, I know that toys truly aren't real, but we are.  We feel the same loneliness as I described the toy horse feeling.  We're broken and waiting to be fixed.  We can't even stand on our own, let alone walk and live our busy lives.  What do we do, and what should we do, when we are "left on the shelf", alone, broken and maimed, untouched by any of those we think might help us? 

·         Ephesians 1:11 handles this really well when it says, "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works everything in conformity with the purpose of his will," (the bold marks are mine.)  So just by that alone, we know four things.  We were chosen.  We were predestined.  We are according to God's plan.  We were made for the purpose of God's will.

·         Notice that at the end of the verse there's a comma.  (That's something Paul and I have in common—using run-on sentences.) He goes on to say in verse 12 that, "in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory."  Verse 13, which I'll paraphrase a bit for the sake of space, basically says that we were specially marked with the Holy Spirit so that we are known as God's possession "to the praise of his glory."  That's two times in the last two verses that Paul reminds us that we were made for God's glory—notice that he didn't say that we were made to sit on a shelf without any plans for the future but feeling sorry for ourselves.  The reason God predestined us (in verse 11) is to praise his glory (verses 12-13.)

·         For this last point, I want to use the story of Job for a minute.  You probably don't need to flip to Job in your Bible to be able to recite his famous words, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." (Job 1:21, for your information).  But the less well known words come only a chapter later, when Satan is talking with God.  He says that if Job is physically hurt then he knows that Job would denounce the LORD.  The LORD knows that Job is past that.  He knows Job well enough (I mean, He made him!) that He knows that Job would rather die before he renounces the LORD.  But the LORD doesn't let him die.  He has big plans for Job, so He told Satan, "very well then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."  Even though God allowed Satan to test Job, almost to the death, He told Satan to not to kill him, because God still had plans for him.  It's the same for us.  God will allow us to be hurt, but He still loves us.

So next time that you're feeling "stuck on the shelf," remember that God hasn't forgotten about you—He still loves you.   When you need to be mended, He'll mend you.  When you need to feel like you need a friend, call Him.  Pray to Him and He'll answer you, even if you don't see the answer right away.  He pre-destined you for the praise of His glory, and He won't let you go before He's finished with you!