Strikes Don't Count

“And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, of Huram my father’s, The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.” (2Ch 2:13-14 AV)

This is an interesting passage and I don’t know quite what to make of it.  It speaks of the king of Tyre sending to Solomon a Jewish man whose mother was of the tribe of Dan.  This man’s father, according to 1Ki 7:14 was of the tribe of Naphtali.  This man was in the employ to Huram his benefactor and king of Tyre.  Tyre was an evil neighbor of Israel and a king of Tyre is likened unto the devil himself.  The temptation is to make too much out of this passage or make an application that may not be correct.  We could make much ado with the fact the man’s father evidently moved to Tyre from the territory of Naphtali so he could practice his craft to a greater profit.  We could also make much ado regarding the tribe of Dan.  It was in the book of Judges we learn this tribe was an artificer of idols and introduced Israel to idol worship of their neighbors once they were settled in the land of Canaan.  But what are we to learn of for our own edification?  The above verse is a statement of fact.  The fact is, Huram, King of Tyre sent to Solomon, king of Israel, one of his own citizens to work on the temple project.  What I see here is a number of obstacles not of his own making the LORD overcame for him to be used in the building of the temple. 

We may have strikes against us, but that does not mean we are not of use to the LORD.  In gym class, our teacher played softball with us.  He was the all-time pitcher.  Yet he had a rule we couldn’t stand.  I stated the batter had three pitches and three pitches only.  No matter where they were thrown, it would be counted as a strike.  It didn’t matter where the ball was, it was fair game to hit.  We didn’t figure out the strategy until later on.  His claim was we only had a forty-minute period and he wanted as many to play around as they could.  It sped the game up dramatically.  The strategy changed.  If the ball was bounced off the ground, it was still a strike and could be swung at and hit.  If it was behind us, we could back away from the batter’s box to swing.  If it was way in front of us, we could cross home plate to hit the ball.  If it was too high, we could back up until it was hit-able.  If all thrown balls were strikes, then all thrown balls could hypothetically be hit.  No matter how many strikes were against us, we could swing at the next one provided it wasn’t the third.

The point of the above passage, at least for today, is that God can use anyone willing to accomplish things for His glory regardless of how many strikes we have against us.  Maybe we aren’t the most intelligent.  Maybe, like me, you have a degree from a non-accredited Bible Institute, and on the face of it, it doesn’t amount to a whole lot.  That doesn't matter.  The LORD can use you anyway.  Maybe your not the best looking, the tallest, or you didn’t come from the right side of the tracks.  It doesn’t matter.  God can use you anyway.  Maybe you don’t have the tact of the upper class or you don’t have the connections others may have.  That doesn’t matter.  The LORD will use you no matter how many talents He has bestowed.  Maybe you are not “from around here.”  It doesn’t matter.  The LORD will use you anyway.  Maybe you cannot speak the language as well as others.  That’s ok.  If God has called you there, He can use you there.  If the LORD can use a nameless son of a Danite who was fathered by a citizen of Israel and of the tribe of Naphtali, living in Tyre, then the LORD can use you.