this isn't what we had in mind.

When I think about doing God’s work, I always picture these large, grand ideas in my head: feeding the hungry, going to Africa and eradicating AIDS, eliminating poverty, etc…you get the idea. Of course, there is nothing wrong with those things. Those are the underlying ideals that so many people seek and strive for. And they truly are good goals to have. But maybe those aren’t the things that God is asking you to do.

It is easy to identify your work as God’s work when you are a part of something great, like those, and countless other, things. Those are the times when it really feels like we are doing something important, doing God’s work. Everybody can see the good we are doing, so that must be when we are making the biggest difference…right? I think we all know the answer to that. Of course God can lead people to do those things, to be a part of such grand plans. But what about when it seems like the task we have been given is menial? We know that we could be doing so much more with ourselves, our time, and our resources.

One of the things that I have had to learn is that not everybody is going to, or is even supposed to, be a part of these things. What do we do when we want to feed the hungry across the globe, but it seems that God is prompting us to get to know our neighbors? When we have great plans, but God wants us to do something that seems meager in comparison?

In Exodus 2, the story of Moses begins. He is a Hebrew man, raised as an Egyptian and ruler over the Hebrews. It seems, though, that Moses was not content with his life as an Egyptian ruler. He knew who he truly was and had compassion on his fellow people. It appears that Moses saw himself as the deliverer of his people. He took matters into his own hands, and one day, when he thought nobody was looking, killed an Egyptian that was beating a Hebrew. He hid the body, thinking that what he did was in secret. But Pharaoh found out what Moses did and tried to kill Moses as punishment. Moses fled into the wilderness until he came to Midian. Verses 16-19 say this:

‘Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”’

So, Moses tries to help his people and ends up fleeing Egypt to save his own life. He had thought was he was going to deliver a nation. His had a grand scheme for how he would deliver his people. But God had different plans. Instead of delivering a nation, God presents Moses with the opportunity to save a priest’s daughters from harm. It wasn’t what Moses had pictured, but he stands up and does it anyway.

Moses is then invited to stay with the priest, marries one of his daughters, and establishes his life there in Midian. I think we all know what comes next: God knows the Israelites are still enslaved in Egypt and He calls Moses to be the one that goes to Pharaoh and ask that the Israelites be freed. Moses is given a chance to be the deliverer of his people one again. Only this time, he does so in accordance with God’s plans and achieves a much greater outcome.

So, what do we do when God is prompting us to get to know our neighbor? It may not be what we had in mind, it may not be the grand scheme we had pictured. But stand up and do it anyway. You may (and probably will) find out that God had a reason that prompting. Maybe your neighbor is going through a financially difficult time and doesn’t have enough to make ends meet. He has put on the façade that everything is alright. But, when you took the time to get to know them, you learned that your plan to feed the hungry across the globe can begin right next door.