I think many times, we all struggle to find our place in this world, whether that is with your job, with your friends, within your church or to find where God would have you serving others. This is a struggle that I have certainly dealt with during my 37 years on this earth. Many times, I believe, God puts us in places & situations that we would never choose to be in as He wants to teach us something. We certainly saw this in many instances in the Old Testament.

One of my favorite people in the Old Testament is a man named Benaiah. Benaiah was one of David’s bodyguards; in fact, he was put in charge of all of the bodyguards. But, it didn’t start that way. We don’t know much about Benaiah, but we do know a few things. “…on a snowy day, he climbed down into a pit and killed a lion. Another time he killed a formidable Egyptian. The Egyptian was armed with a spear and Benaiah went against him with nothing but a walking stick; he seized the spear from his grip and killed him with his own spear.” (2 Samuel 23:20, The Message). Now, it is definitely easy to overlook these passages of the Old Testament, but I’ve not been able to. I’m fairly certain that Benaiah never thought that he would find himself climbing down into a pit to slay a lion, nor going up against an Egyptian who probably had him outmatched both in size and weaponry. However, God put Benaiah in those situations in order to help prepare him for the place He really wanted him to be. (I would love to get more into Benaiah’s life right here, but I’ll save much of that for another blog posting.)

Why did I tell you about Benaiah? Not because he’s one of my favorite people in the Old Testament (although he is). Not to give you a history lesson (though it’s a good one). Not to encourage you to pick up your Bible and read through 1 Samuel 23 (although it’s a great chapter). I told you about Benaiah to encourage you to see where God has placed you now and to encourage you to take advantage of that. Could that be working with our refugee friends? Perhaps it is. Could it be in a position to travel overseas to work with people of a different culture and to be a light to them? Perhaps. Could it be ministering to your next door neighbor who is struggling with some sort of problem? Maybe.

God has you where He has you. That doesn’t mean you have to stay there, as God is always molding & shaping you for more. Don’t make things bigger than that. Open your eyes to where you are today, see the gifts & talents that God has given you and utilize them. We all have something. It could be something as small as teaching English or even just talking to someone and being their friend. It could be that you could take one of our refugee friends shopping and helping them understand the ins and outs of an American grocery store. Everyone can offer something. We all can. I’ll pray that God opens the doors wider so that we all can see where we can serve. But, don’t wait on the big thing when there are so many small opportunities to help right where you are.