“Woe to the one who argues with his Maker— one clay pot among many. Does clay say to the one forming it, ‘What are you making?’ Or does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
Isaiah 45:9 (CSB)
Gladys Aylward, missionary and author of Gladys Aylward: My Missionary Life in China, recounts her personal struggle with her looks. She hated her black hair and wanted blond hair, like her friends. She was short, a mere 4’10”, while her friends towered over her.
Years later, she would respond to a call from the Lord to serve as a missionary in Shanghai, China. When she arrived in China, she noticed that “every single one of them had black hair. And every single one of them had stopped growing when I did. And I said, ‘Lord God, You know what you’re doing!’”
I will be honest with you. There have been many times I’ve grumbled about my short stature (thankfully, God blessed me with tall sons who can reach those shelves I can’t). Why couldn’t he have created me tall and beautiful instead of short and average?
Romans 9:20-21 reminds us, “Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
Truth is, God fashions each vessel with intentionality and purpose. In the scope of eternity, what does it matter whether I am a short, unremarkable vessel rather than a tall, beautiful, slender vase? What truly matters is whether I am used by God.
Gladys’ short stature and dark hair would allow her to ‘blend in.’ When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, Gladys helped over one hundred refugee orphan children under her care escape over two treacherous mountain ranges in the North of China. I guess God did know what He was doing!
Thought: The greatest ‘qualification’ we can achieve here on earth is not measured in human terms but in our usefulness to God.
A very good thought-provoking insight. God seems to address everything we go through in His Word.