Ready or Not: How to Respond When the Lord Needs Your Donkey

We’ve all heard it said, it’s not the gift, but the thought that counts. Maybe we’ve been a recipient for such a gift from a child. When my daughter was only six years old, she tried out the Girl Scouts.That Christmas I was the recipient of a “new purse.” Made from a cardboard take out box covered in purple fabric trimmed in pink fuzz, she’d made it especially for me at their Christmas meeting, and she didn’t wait until Christmas to give it to me. She knew I had a special Christmas party to attend for my husband’s employer.

It’s not the gift, but the thought that counts.

In the case of the donkey needed for Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, it wasn’t the thought but the obedience that counted.

Jesus sent His disciples into town with specific directions about a donkey and her colt. They were told if anyone asked why they were taking it, to tell them “The Lord has need of them” (Matthew 21:3).

I’ve read this passage many times and never got past just thinking “Okay, Jesus jacked some poor fellow’s donkey because old testament prophecy said He should.” But then I read And the Angels Were Silent by Max Lucado and came away with an entirely new point of view.

First, since everything we have really does belong to God, it was His donkey in the first place.

But second, the donkey’s owner didn’t try to offer God something else instead. He didn’t say “But wouldn’t you rather have this bigger, stronger donkey (after all this was a mother and her colt, neither would have been in prime working ability) or one that has been trained?” He also didn’t try to make the donkey anything other than just what it was. The owner didn’t ask for time to give the donkey a bath and tie a ribbon on its tail, or throw a fancy blanket—you know, one fit for the Lord—on its back.

The Lord needed his donkey … and the man gave it.

Okay, this post really isn’t about donkeys. It’s about the unique gifts God gives to each of us. Just like the donkey carried Jesus forward, in the same way our gifts are to be used to carry Jesus forward to a world in desperate need of their Savior. Our giftings and our talents are metaphorically our donkeys.

And it may be today or someday in the future, but one day the Lord will send word that He needs our donkey.

Is your gift/donkey cooking? The Lord needs your donkey to bless someone with the food you prepare. Is your gift/donkey empathy? The Lord needs your donkey to carry His love to the heart of someone who needs to feel that love. Is your gift/donkey singing, teaching, or writing? The Lord needs your donkey to share His message with the broken and the lost.

But hold on before you saddle up your smelly little beast of burden and head out, remember the enemy is against this. He knows you have a willing heart and are ready to give. His goal is to keep that from happening. And he’ll use the standards of the world to do it.

The voice in our ear may say something like this… “That’s the donkey you’re going to give the Lord? He smells horrible, and he’s so little. He isn’t trained in carrying something of such importance on his back. He’s really not very strong/attractive/intelligent. Nope, that donkey needs a lot of work or perfecting before he’s good enough to carry the Lord anywhere. Offer the Lord this other thing instead. Or tell Him you need more time to get your donkey ready.”

Unlike when we try to buy a car off the used car lot, when the Lord says He needs our donkey, He already knows exactly what He’s getting.

While it is true that we have an obligation to take care of our donkeys, making sure they are in good condition—ready to go when God says now—we also have to trust God knows what He’s doing when He tells us He needs our donkey.

The donkey’s owner wasn’t the one God sent to bring the donkey to Jesus. He isn’t the one who provided the covering on the donkey’s back for Jesus to sit on. Often we have to let go of our donkeys so others can fulfill their roles in God’s plan as well. Writers know this well. When they sign a contract for their manuscript, they are handing their donkey over to the publishing house. What happens to their donkey is now someone else’s responsibility.

It’s also important to know what our donkey is and what isn’t. Words are my donkey. And while I love expressing thoughts and ideas through written words, I’m a horrible singer.  Audible musical expression is definitely not my donkey. Now Satan loves to remind me my writing isn’t perfect and all the other inexhaustible list of reasons why this is a waste of time. He’ll even try to make us worry over someone else’s donkey (here’s my blog on how we overextend ourselves into things that aren’t ours to tend to).

In obedience, I tie my donkey to the front porch—I post a blog on my website—and again I wait with a ready pen to hear “The Lord needs your donkey.”

When it comes to traveling, there are lots of ways to get from one place to another. But only our Lord and Savior would take a pitiful little donkey and turn it into the Grand Marshal’s float in the Kingdom parade.

Maybe that little gifting you’ve been given–the one you feel is unworthy–is exactly the one God needs in this very moment.

Just so you know, I still have that little purple purse. And yes, I carried it with me to the Christmas dinner. To the rest of the world it may have been just a cardboard box wrapped in fabric scraps. To me, it was priceless–because it really is the thought that counts.