Qualified?

Have you ever considered the people God uses to work out His will?  Often we think of Mary, the mother of Jesus, or Hannah and her struggle to have a son, only to give him, Samuel, back to God.  These are indeed admirable people. Stellar women, sacrificial and obedient.   But they are in the minority when you read through the Scriptures.  Let's consider just these three; Samson, Cyrus and David.
You may be familiar with the account of David, raised from shepherding  to be king by God, only to take another man's wife and kill off her husband.  In addition, he was so attached to his son, Absalom, that David nearly caused the  mass desertion of the army that defended him against Absalom's treachery.  Yet, God used David in all his weakness, womanizing and weeping.  David authored many of the psalms, he lead Israel as king for forty years, he saw to it that Israel worshiped God and not idols.  His sins were real, but that did not stop God from using him.

Or consider Cyrus, the pagan king of Persia.  The Scriptures tell us that "the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia to make a proclamation...he has appointed me to build a temple for Him at Jerusalem...any of His people among you...let him go up,"  2 Chronicles 36.  In Isaiah 45 the Lord, speaking of Cyrus says, "This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of...For the sake of Jacob, my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me."  In the life of Cyrus, God directed him God honored him and God used him to restore the Jews to their land after the exile in Babylon.  Cyrus also commanded the temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem,  even though he was not a worshiper of God.  The legacy of this pagan man is bright.

In the book of Judges we learn of Samson, a man of physical strength and moral weakness.  Samson's desire to marry a foreign woman, which was forbidden by God, turned out to be used by God to begin liberating Israel from the Philistines.  The ensuing battles and skirmishes arose mostly because Samson was seeking revenge on his  Philistine enemies.  He used wild foxes to spread fire in grain fields. Not exactly an animal lover it seems.  But Samson's downfall was his lust for women.  Lured into a romance with the pagan Delilah, he told her the secret of his strength and she betrayed him.  Imprisoned and humiliated, God used him one last time to kill the  Philistine elites and so he killed more while dying than he did previously.   He was an obstinate, passion filled man who let his passions lead him astray.

None of these men were saints.  I think many of us would not want them near our children.  They were known for strength, but also for lust, anger, cruelty and more.  YET, God used them.  God moved upon them to direct His will for His purposes.

Two thoughts I take away from this.  The first is that God will use whomever He chooses.  Their character, beliefs and actions are not necessarily a part of the job requirements.  And that leads to the second thought; the  realization that  there are not any people qualified to serve God. It is time we wise up and stop looking for them.  Stop looking for the perfect husband, the perfect wife.  Stop hoping God will find the perfect, sinless person to be a  leader, ruler,  judge, legislator.   God does not look for perfect people, because there are none.   Until the day Jesus Christ returns we live as flawed persons among flawed people in a broken world.   It is astonishing that God uses any of us, but I thank God He does.