5 Nobodies That Became Somebodies

One of the things I really love about God is how frequently he takes nobodies and makes them important. All throughout the Bible you find instances where God takes the people you would least expect to change the world and makes them great.   More than that even, He takes the parts of them that they see as inadequate and makes them enough.  I find encouragement in these stories filled with broken people that God used to fight his revolution.  So, here are my top 5 nobodies that God made somebodies.

1-  Peter the Rebel Fisherman:

Ah Peter, my kindred spirit, quick to smart off and slow to listen, he was constantly getting himself in trouble.  He was just a dirty fisherman when Jesus found him.  He smelt of the sea, his hands worn and cut from a life of hard work.  He was a redneck of his day, uneducated and looked down as part of a lower class, made hard by people’s perception of him.  Then Jesus comes along and he calls him to something different.  From that point on we see Jesus pushing Peter to something different and, even in his hot headedness, Peter is loved.  Even after peter’s flight and denial in Jesus’s time of greatest need, he is shown favor.  After everything, Jesus calls Peter to be a leader of his church, a general in his revolution.

2-  Rahab the Prostitute:

Rahab was a prostitute who lived in Jericho, you know the walls come tumbling down Jericho?  Not only did she live in the city her house was built in as part of the wall.  Joshua sent in some Israelite spies to check out the city but the king found out that they were there staying with Rahab.  He sent soldiers to her house to find the spies.  Rahab had cleverly hidden them up in the roof. She told the soldiers that the men had come to be her clients but that they left already and she sent the officers off into the night to look for them.  She then pledged her loyalty to the God of the spies, these men who came into her house, I imagine for the same reason all men came to her house.  She had faith in something bigger than herself.  The entire wall of the city crumbled when the Israelites came to take the city, but her house stood unharmed.  She was taken in by God’s people and not only that but was put into the direct line that Jesus would come from!  That’s pretty cool right?

3-  Ehud the Physically Handicapped:

I bet not many of you have heard of this guy, right?  He’s one of my favorites!  Ehud was left-handed, not a big deal in today’s world, back then it was a different story.  In that day, when you had too much taco bell the left hand was the one you wiped with.  Left-handed people were rare and considered dirty and handicapped, looked down on for their short coming.  Back in Ehud’s day, the nation was ruled by an evil and incredibly fat king named Eglon.  One day Ehud came before the king carrying with him Israel’s tribute payment (basically like their taxes).  Hidden under his robe was a double-edged, 15 inch long dagger strapped on his right thigh (opposite of what a right-handed person would do).  When the guards patted him down they didn’t think to look there, I mean, why would Israel send a handicapped person before a king?  He told the king he had a secret message for him and Eglon sent away all his men.  Then Ehud grabbed his sword and killed Eglon, who was so fat that the sword disappeared in him and also… he crapped himself.  Now that is humiliating! After that, Ehud went on to rule the nation of Israel for 80 years!

4-  Moses the Stutterer:

I think almost everyone knows who Moses is.  He was a great leader and powerful hero of the Bible.  Did you know that when God first called him he wanted God to find someone else?  He begged God to send Aaron along with him to speak for him because Moses had speech issues.  Most scholars say it was a lisp or a stutter (now I can relate to that) neither of which are very intimidating when you’re demanding freedom for a nation from an evil Pharaoh!  Now, no one even hears about that, they know Moses for what God did with him and through him. 

5-  David the Kid:

David is an inspiration.  God first destines him to be king of Israel when he is the youngest of his brothers and just a simple shepherd.  He goes on to slay a giant with nothing but some stones and a lot of faith.  Later he royally screws up by having a woman’s husband killed and having an affair with her.  Still, God calls him a man after his own heart.  He is probably the most famous king of Israel and a major hub in the Jesus gene chain!

All five of these people didn’t expect to be anything great, they were just normal people.  Broken, poor, trapped in a life they wanted out of, hiding from their flaws, and revolutionaries for God’s cause.  I get excited reading stories like theirs because I’m a nobody too.  In my brokenness he shines and in my under qualifications he makes me enough.  I am happily one of God’s ordinary revolutionaries.