Your talent is Not Enough: You Need His Anointing
The guards on both sides of the gate wore full body armor. The sun glared off their helmets. With machine guns in hand and a stoic look about them, they gazed intently at us as a uniformed soldier, who exchanged his assault rifle for a pen and clipboard, leaned into our car.
A bomb sniffing dog walked around the car while another soldier with a long mirror on a pole looked under the car and the hood. We provided our names, and waited for his clipboard to confirm our invitation. I was a little nervous. Okay, let’s be real: I was very nervous. I was so nervous that my stomach was turning. The air temperature that day was perfect. The sun was shining and the architecture around me was picture worthy. My external environment was in order, but my internal environment was another story. I didn’t know what to expect. Personally, this was a bit unusual for me.
My travels place me in some fairly unique and, at times, dangerous scenarios: a riot in a developing nation that turned the city into a war zone; a governmental upheaval so robust that tanks lined the streets; or a trip to a red zone where refugees wait. My experiences throughout the years of being off the beaten path from civilization can generate quite a set of memories. But, in all of those moments, I wasn’t as nervous as I was that day. The anticipation built for months as I planned and prepared for my meeting with that global political leader. Now I sat at his gate, moments away from what I knew would be an important conversation.
Getting my name on the guard’s clipboard hadn’t been easy. A random phone call and request for a visit doesn’t suffice with some people. Those with significant influence are often inapproachable. Why? The multitudes seek an audience with them. My name was on that list because a friend of a friend just happened to know a diplomat who empathized with our proposed meeting outcomes. Months of security checks, background reports, confirmations —and I’m sure many other things I am oblivious to — got me on that clipboard. You could say I was about to have an audience with an earthly “king.”
An additional security checkpoint, with another clipboard, metal detector, full body scan, additional bomb-and-whatever-else sniffing dogs, and many more soldiers paved the way for me to the waiting area. Greeted by another diplomat, I walked into another secured area, past additional soldiers, and into a nice, ornately designed room. Walls were covered with, what appeared to be, original — and I’m sure quite expensive — paintings. The rug underneath my feet didn’t come from a typical superstore. The chandelier, fireplace, wooden table, and ambience was plush. I’m not used to atmospheres like that. I prefer BBQ burnt ends and a good cauldron of macaroni and cheese, some frozen custard, or a nice cup of strong coffee. I wasn’t sure whether I should sit down, so I followed the example of the person who walked me in. We stood there, waiting. I guess that’s what you do: stand, wait.
When the leader I was there to see walked in, he was smiling, laid back, and down to earth. We joked around, took some photos at his request, and pulled up a seat. The meeting officially began after quite a bit of small talk. There were four of us in the room, and three of us were listening to the one with the ability to make a decision and turn the hearts of many toward a common purpose. He had power and authority, and he knew it. We all knew it. As he spoke and I took notes, I noticed evidence of a fifth guest in the room whose name was not on the clipboards nor did he walk thru the metal detector. Who or what was the mysterious fifth guest?
A spider.
Our table meeting had been joined by a spider descending from the chandelier above us. I tried to remain focused on the meeting and casually glanced to keep track of his progress, but he had now disappeared. I think I was the only one that noticed him.
Handshakes concluded our gathering; the outcome was good and worth the invested time, and when we left my nerves were now at ease. I was happy, hungry, and ready to get something to eat. We walked out of that room while the unannounced, uninvited guest remained somewhere in the room and, I assume, made it all the way to the table where our cups were left. The spider made it into the same meeting I did; although, the spider had a much smoother process I’m sure.
Leaning Into Your Design
Proverbs 30:28 (NKJV) says, “The spider skillfully grasps with its hands, and it is in kings’ palaces.”
The spider has no professional network, nor a PhD, and its name is unknown, yet it was found in the very presence of a leader whose influence the world seeks an audience with. The spider went where only those of us with a regal invitation can. How? It functioned and lived according to its design.
Just like everything God created, including spiders, you have a unique design too. Common culture places an expectation on you that you must succeed, grow your influence, and constantly be better by fitting a certain mold. Success is great, but we can be successful at what doesn’t matter in eternity. Influence can be good and stewarded for the common good, but “unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1, ESV). Personal development and becoming better as a husband, father, son, friend, leader, athlete, entrepreneur, coworker, or you-name-it is admirable. In fact, it is necessary. Unfortunately, in our age filled with consumerism, materialism, and competition, opportunities can seduce us, and our longing to be better can create striving. True success, growth and improvement — for it to be real and ultimately matter most — means we function according to our design: like that spider. No performance. No strings to pull. Simply being you is enough. How can I say that?
Because God formed you, and God doesn’t make mistakes.
A fuller, abundant life doesn’t necessarily require your circumstance to change or the right opportunity to come. It begins now when you posture your heart toward God and lean into the miracle in front of you. Miracle? Yes, miracle. The miraculous is often shrouded in the ordinary, and miracles just waiting to happen pave the path before you. Something is activated when you become fully present to your earthly situation and also fully present to the God who is near.
Something is activated. Leaning into it changes everything.
In the Bible, the creation of the universe is recorded in Genesis chapter one. God spoke and the galaxies formed; however, when God created humanity, God did not speak. God scooped up a mound of dirt and breathed. God saved his very breath for you. You were designed by the breath of God. The Hebrew word for breath is ruach. It can also be translated wind or spirit. When the Bible mentions the spirit of God, ruach is used. When we become spiritually new, the holy spirit literally lives inside of us. We are described as a temple where the Divine dwells. It is possible, in fact encouraged, in the Bible, for us to become relationally close with the Holy Spirit; both of you together can live in deep connection and enjoy friendship. It is in this space, you and the Holy Spirit, where your unique design as a man becomes something supernatural. It is where things like a job or career become a vocation: where calling and person meet. This is where the anointing of the Holy Spirit becomes real and useful. You can receive his anointing.
An excerpt from the forthcoming piece Your Talent is not enough: You Need His Anointing, Kinsmen Journal, Volume 1, by Heath Adamson, PhD
