Can God Use Someone Like Me?

 
Exodus 13:13
Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck.

 
In Old Testament times, the only way a donkey could live was if a lamb was slain for it. This is a great analogy. Because we know the lamb speaks of Jesus, it’s not too difficult to figure out who the donkey represents! The donkey is mentioned twenty-five times in the Old Testament; let’s track them together:

As Humans, We Often Find Ourselves Without Liberty or the Inclination to Worship
In Genesis 22, when Abraham took Isaac up to Mt. Moriah, a donkey was saddled for them, which speaks of a loss of liberty. Later in the same chapter, the donkey was to be tied up while Abraham and Isaac ascended the mountain, which speaks of an inability to worship:

 
Genesis 22:3-5
Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

 
As Humans, We Often Feel the Weight of the World on Our Shoulders
As Jacob pronounced blessing on his sons in Genesis 49, he likens Issachar to a donkey that is heavily laden:

 
Genesis 49:14-15
"Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down between two saddlebags. When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor.

 
As Humans, We Often Feel Like a Weak Link
In Deuteronomy 22, we read that the ox and the donkey were not to plow together, the implication being that the donkey would only slow the ox down:

 
Deuteronomy 22:10
Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

 
As Humans, We Often Wander Away from God
Check out how donkeys often behave. In 1 Samuel 9, we see Saul trying to locate his father’s donkeys that had wandered away.

 
1 Samuel 9:3
Now the donkeys belonging to Saul's father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, "Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys."

 
As Humans, We Often Feel Like We Have Been Left Alone
Ever feel like you are all alone? Well, Jeremiah 22 speaks of a donkey left for dead and tossed outside the city gates:

 
Jeremiah 22:19
He will have the burial of a donkey - dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem."

 
But God Still Chooses to Use Us As Humans!
Taken together, these references speak of you and me; laden down, tied up, lacking an ability to serve or worship the Lord, lost, left for dead, and tossed out. It’s not a very flattering picture. But the final mention of a donkey in the Old Testament is a glorious one indeed…

 
Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

 
A week before He would go to Calvary, Jesus said to His disciples, “Go into the village and you’ll see a donkey. Untie it and bring it to Me. And if anyone asks why you are untying it, tell him the lord has need of it! (see Matthew 21:3). “I choose a donkey,” Jesus said. “Let Alexander the great ride on the back of his mighty black stallion. Let the Romans ride their dazzling white horses. I’ll use a donkey.” Jesus wants to enter your city, your workplace, your family. And He chooses to use you as a means of getting there. “How can he use me?” you ask. “I’m nothing but a donkey.”

That’s right. Jesus loves using donkeys; the foolish things of the world to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27). But before He can use you and I, we first must be untied, released because we can’t be used if we're bound up with guilt and sin and worry. So He sends disciples to untie us. Maybe in a Bible study, maybe over the radio, with a word from the Lord just for you. Before the donkey was ridden, he was released. But before he was released, he had to be redeemed. The donkey would die unless a lamb died in his place. And that’s exactly what the Lamb of God did when He died for us. The donkey had his day. So can we. That’s amazing grace.