Herald on the Run

What impact am I having?

Have you ever asked yourself—or God—that question? I know I have! It is so easy to evaluate your obedience through the lens of the impact you see it making—or not making. It is a natural and normal human behavior to consider the impact of an action.

But God’s plan frequently unfolds in a different fashion. His plan so very often includes a herald on the run, and if you fail to recognize this fact, it is very easy to grow discouraged and even disillusioned.

Habakkuk 2:2 says: “Then the Lord replied: ‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.’”

This instruction should be so liberating for you! 

First and foremost, are you listening for God’s voice? You can only be a vessel through which He speaks if you can hear what He is saying. In this passage, God is replying to Habakkuk. He is engaging Habakkuk in a back-and-forth conversation. There is more to say about this (I write in more depth about it in my book, My Fame His Fame), but for purposes of our discussion today, suffice it to say that Habakkuk is not entirely onboard with what God is instructing. Even so, He is still listening intently enough to hear what God is saying!

Next, are you accurately identifying what it is God wants you to do or are you caught up in how it might have an impact? God’s instruction to Habakkuk was simply to write down what He was saying, and to write it down in a way that clearly communicated the message. God didn’t tell Habakkuk to go make sure the intended recipient of the message heard it; He simply told Habakkuk to listen carefully, hear clearly, and write it down plainly. What has God actually asked you to do?

Finally, have you considered that your task may not involve participation in the final delivery or execution of the message He is giving you? God’s work through Habakkuk was specifically designed to be delivered through someone else—in this case, a herald on the run. It was the reason Habakkuk needed to make it plain—because he wouldn’t be there to explain it or answer questions. The herald would deliver the message, but he would not be able to further explain it because he was not the one who heard the message.

Your Word from God may be meant to reach the intended audience through someone else.

Your revelation—the one you are tasked with contending for, listening to intently, and recording scrupulously—may be delivered when you are not even around.

There could be any number of reasons for this. Perhaps God is using you to prepare the ground for something He will do after your death. Or perhaps God is shielding you from the weight of either acclaim or scrutiny that would come with delivering the message He is speaking. But the reasons are not yours to determine—or perhaps even discern.

Your task is to simply be attentive enough to hear clearly what God is asking, and humble enough to articulately prepare the message for the herald on the run.

You are the vessel not the Message. The Word God is speaking to you may not be for you or even intended to be delivered by you. But it is for someone, and it is to be delivered. Will you be faithful to carefully and plainly record it?

And—to tease a conversation for another day—is God speaking to you through something He first spoke to someone else?

The following article originally appeared in Thann’s “The Equipped” Weekly Newsletter. For more information on Thann’s weekly email, click here.