I want to be a JOYFUL COG! I love the message of this writing! I was looking for the scriptures with “cog” much to my surprise it was not there! So I had to reference another place for context beyond my own head. 🙂 There are very few things in this world which are original. I wanted to give credit where credit is due. We hear or read and sometimes inadvertently absorb the information we hear or see. The rate at which this world moves today it is truly a wonder we remember where all of the information comes from, but it is actually becoming easier with the internet and hashtag searches. If you have never looked up a hashtag to see if it is being used, or to look for information, or to share content.. I highly recommend the process!
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/a-joyful-cog-in-his-giant-plan
Be a Joyful Cog
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Our joy is found in realizing that even our most boring days fit into God’s glorious plan. The Enemy robs us of our joy by convincing us that if we are not a glittering snowflake of unique talents and experiences our lives are meaningless. Songwriter Robin Pecknold counters, “After some thinking, I’d say I would rather be a functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me.” Cogs are mundane and plain —seemingly insignificant. However, even cogs can be joyful when they know they are serving not merely something but someone beyond themselves — their loving and steadfast Lord.
Our Lord encourages us, “Remember this and stand firm . . . for I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done” (Isaiah 46:8–9). Today, God is working faithfully through your most basic tasks to accomplish a plan that will bring about your greatest joy and his greatest glory. The amazing truth is that you will find the most contentment and joy in faithfully turning, day after day, as a joyful cog in his sovereign plan of salvation.
When that alarm clock goes off in the morning, will you still choose to get dressed and get to work? Will you still put your hands to the plow, even if our Lord asks you to do the same task you have done for days, months, or years?
Steadfastness is developed when you are on day one thousand of the same clean-up job. Steadfastness is developed when you enter year eleven of your marriage, after year ten was filled with heartache and struggle. Steadfastness is developed when you have been loading packages for twenty years without so much as a thank-you.
As you remain steadfast, find joy in knowing that your Father is steadfastly making you more like his Son — the one who set his face like flint toward accomplishing our salvation (Luke 9:51).
“Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10). His might is not primarily for those with lives that garner approval from the world. His might is meant to empower you to be faithful when life is commonplace and dull. What a glorious reality that even in the midst of such lives, God is willing and working according to his good purposes.