It All Matters to God

Remember in The Karate Kid movie, “Wax on-wax off?” The future karate champion had no idea why he had to wax cars using a certain hand motion. He just knew he was wasting valuable time when he could be in training for the big competition. As viewers, we were also baffled, until the last scene of the movie, when all those hand motions finally made sense.

Have you ever found yourself repeating the same tasks day after day? Did you ever ask God, "Why am I wasting time here God? What does this have to do with your destiny for my life?"

I’m sure young David asked these questions. Day after day he sat and watched sheep. This bored teenager found two ways to pass the time—practice with his slingshot and write music. 

How could he have known those dull, lonely years of shepherding would be the very thing to prepare him for his destiny?

God used David’s skill with a slingshot to launch him to fame and fortune when he killed Goliath. His reward was to marry the king’s daughter and never again pay taxes. From then on, everyone knew his name—he was elevated to our century’s status as a “rock star.”

God also used music to position David in the king’s court. His music career began in the palace, singing songs before a mentally troubled King Saul. His passion for worship would inspire him to one day bring the Arc back to Jerusalem and set up a Tabernacle of 24/7 worship. Finally those songs and poems would one day fill the book of Psalms, the finest poetic literature ever written, inspiring countless millions of people to worship God and know Him intimately.

God will use our skills, even the menial and tedious ones, to position us one day in our place of destiny. I remember for 10 years, I ran our church’s nursery. I’ve worked in just about every area of church ministry, but this happened to be my least favorite. I never imagined God would use changing diapers and disinfecting toys for anything special. 

But one year, God opened a door for my husband and I to go to Israel to work at the Feast of Tabernacles, an international Christian Convention in Jerusalem. The leaders of the convention needed someone to run the youth program and someone to run the nursery. I had always dreamed of going to Israel, and now God was using my experience in the nursery to fulfill my hearts desire! Since then, we’ve returned to Israel 10 times to help with ministry, but not to work in the nursery.

Oswald Chambers says, “When the Spirit of God comes, He does not give us visions, He tells us to do the most ordinary things conceivable...the ordinary commonplace things…the most natural simple things—the things we would never have imagined God was in, and as we do them we find He is there.”

So, the next time you feel like banging your head against the wall because the daily grind of life has become routine, say a prayer of thanks. God doesn’t waste our time. He is the master Karate teacher, preparing us for battle. He knows what skill we will need to fulfill our role in building His kingdom.

"How can we understand the road we travel? It is the Lord who directs our steps.” (Proverbs 20:24)

To those sitting at a computer all day, mowing lawns, studying in school, washing dishes, or practicing the piano—rejoice. It all matters.

Lori Stewart © 2009, printed with permission.