I Was Just Thinking About … Round Peg, Round Hole

Dr. David Hubbard preached on The Joyful Sound radio program for three years, and with thousands of others, I rejoice in his God-given ministry as he faithfully proclaimed the Word. By doing this he blessed many. Indeed, I still receive letters that ask me why I didn’t carry on preaching after my father died. The answer is that God made it clear to me that my ministry was not preaching on a popular level, but rather training people, especially future gospel ministers, in how to interpret the Bible accurately.

I became a teacher of “hermeneutics” at Fuller Theological Seminary. “Hermeneutics” is the term that denotes the science of biblical interpretation. Knowing how to interpret the bible correctly is just as important as affirming that it is the verbally inspired Word of God. Asserting that the Bible is true will safeguard the truth of God’s Word only to the extent that we also derive meanings from Scripture which God intended to impart when he inspired holy men of old to write them. Obviously, it is very important for those who embark on the awesome responsibility of preaching and teaching the Word to understand what is necessary to accurately think God’s thoughts after him.

I carried on this ministry of teaching hermeneutics for over twenty years, and I rejoice that God has blessed my efforts, especially as former students, now serving all over the world, drop by or write from time to time and tell me that their training in hermeneutics is helping them in their present ministries.

None of us has any say in what gifts  God imparts to us for the ministry he wants us to carry out. 1 Corinthians 12:11 says that the Holy Spirit gives a ministry and gifts to each “as he wills.” I had wanted to be an evangelist like my father. I tried very hard to become one, but the Lord never signified any particular blessing in this. Then one day when a professor became ill at Fuller Seminary, I was asked to pinch hit and teach his course. (It was on the Gospel of Mark, and I had written a thesis on that Gospel.) I felt so much more at home teaching than I had trying to be an evangelist. But more importantly, there was evidence of God’s blessing on me as I taught seminary students how to study the Bible.

God’s ways are as much higher than our ways as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:9), but how wonderful to go God’s way instead of our own. God, who created each of us and knows the beginning and the end of all things, surely knows better how to make our lives useful and happy than we do. For each of us to carry out God’s particular plan is to do God’s will, which is good, acceptable, and perfect (Romans 12:2). Therefore, as God leads us to perform the particular work he has for us, we need never fear that we will wind up being square pegs in round holes!

It is amazing how many Christians do not realize that God has a ministry for each of them to perform. “The same Spirit apportions to each one individually as he wills.” God does not necessarily inform Christians what their gifts are as soon as they are born again, but eventually, the Lord will make this clear. However, we should realize that it is possible for us to live contrary to God’s will so that we do not carry out the ministry the Lord has given us. To Archippus, a member of the church at Colossae, Paul said, “See that you fulfill the ministry which you have received in the Lord” (Colossians 4:17). Certainly no one in his right mind would want to reject the ministry God had given him for something else. That’s the surest way to be a square peg in a round hole! And how terrible it is not to carry out the plan God has for each of us. For surely God, who made us, who is the Lord of the Church and of the harvests, knows far better than we just where each of us fits in.

So, my primary interest is seminary teaching. As director of The Joyful Sound, I was committed to working with Dr. Hubbard to keep this radio broadcast going. And I was particularly happy to be editor of the periodical Today’s Christian in which this column appeared for six years. I trust that the Lord used this as one more way in which The Joyful Sound ministered to people.

Daniel P. Fuller
May 1972