“When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’’ So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them” (Luke 19:29-32, ESV).
I heard something tonight that blew my mind a little. It definitely got me thinking the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem in a different way.
Have you considered the story from the point of the colt? Have you thought that God appointed that a man should go and buy a donkey to take care of it and raise it and feed it? That donkey then proceeded to give birth to a colt, which the man also raises and feeds, all for the moment when Jesus sends His disciples to fetch the colt, saying “The Lord has need of it.”
Have you thought that maybe God placed you and me where we are in the time and place we’re in so that one day, you can be in the place to hear the words “The Lord has need of you”?
We don’t really think about all the time that passed before Jesus needed the colt. All that time that seemed wasted or useless was a time of preparation for one single event that led to the event that changed the entire world.
You may be in a season of preparation that proceeds the moment when God will say to you, “I have need of you.”
I get that in one sense God doesn’t really need you or me or anyone else. But I also know that God places you in the exact moment and location where He will be able to best mold you into the person He can use. Maybe it’s for a lifetime calling or maybe it’s a moment in time. But God will use you. All He asks of you and me is that we are available.