08/07/2026
SOMEBODY NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING
By Shannon Hawley
Today’s Scripture
“The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
—Luke 10:2, NLT
In Luke 10, Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples and sent them out in pairs to the towns and places He intended to visit. These were not the twelve apostles. Jesus was sending more of His followers into the work ahead of Him. Before they went, He told them that the harvest was great but the workers were few, and then He told them to pray for more workers.
There is something about that verse that hits me personally, because I remember a time when I prayed almost that exact prayer without realizing it.
Around 2017, su***de began hitting close to home. Several young people in my community died by su***de at different times, and one of them was a friend of mine. Two years before that, I had survived a su***de attempt of my own. I knew what hopelessness felt like. I knew what it was like to reach a place where life became so dark that you could not see a way forward.
After losing my friend and seeing more young lives being lost, I remember praying, “Father God, somebody needs to do something.” What I believed God impressed on my spirit was simple: You.
That was not the answer I expected. I was a former gang member. I was not an event organizer. I had never put anything like this together before. I did not have the money, the experience, the connections, or a complete plan. I just knew I could not keep looking at what was happening and do nothing.
That part of my story also makes me think about what Jesus told the seventy-two a few verses later:
“Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals.”
—Luke 10:4, NLT
Jesus was giving specific instructions for that mission, so this is not a command that Christians should never prepare or carry money. But the principle of dependence is hard to miss. He was sending them out without the normal resources a traveler would rely on.
I understood that in a very real way. I could not look at my bank account or my experience and say, “I have this covered.” I did not. I had to move forward without knowing how everything would come together.
The event eventually cost close to $10,000 when everything was considered—the building, stages, trophies, insurance, and all the other expenses involved. I rented one of the largest buildings my city had available, even though I did not know how I was going to pay for everything or whether enough people would show up.
It was a football Sunday, and there had been major boxing and UFC fights that weekend. There were plenty of other things people could have chosen to do. I remember praying and telling God that I believed this was something He had placed in front of me. I had taken the step. Now I had to trust Him with the outcome.
The provision came. The building filled. Cars stretched from one end of that huge building to the other, and people came. People were reached. To God be the glory.
But there is something important I never want to turn that story into. Luke 10 does not teach that if we obey God, everything will always work out exactly the way we hope. Jesus told those same disciples that some towns would welcome them and others would reject them. Faithfulness is not always measured by visible success. Sometimes obedience produces results we can see right away, and sometimes we may never know what God did through a step we took in faith.
The real victory in my story was not simply that the money came or the building filled. The victory began when I prayed, “Somebody needs to do something,” and became willing to ask whether I was supposed to be part of the answer.
My past could have become an easy excuse. I had been a gang member, and I had made serious poor choices. I had known addiction, violence, brokenness, and darkness. I did not look like the obvious person to organize an event meant to bring hope to hurting people. But Scripture is full of people God used who did not begin with perfect histories. That does not excuse sin or make the past unimportant. It shows what grace can do with a life surrendered to God.
Sometimes the place where we were once wounded becomes the place where we recognize somebody else’s pain. I could not speak about despair as something I had only read about. I had been there. I knew what it was like to believe the darkness might win, but I was still alive. Now I had an opportunity to remind somebody else that their story did not have to end there.
That is part of the harvest.
The harvest is not always somewhere far away. Sometimes it is the struggling kid in our community, the friend hiding what they are really going through, the addict everyone has given up on, the marriage quietly falling apart, or the person who has convinced themselves that nobody would care if they disappeared. We see things like that and pray, “God, somebody needs to do something.”
We should pray that prayer. Jesus told us to pray for workers. But we should also be willing to ask whether God may be calling us to take one step ourselves. That does not mean every strong feeling is automatically a calling from God. What we believe God is leading us to do should be tested against Scripture, prayer, wisdom, and godly counsel.
But sometimes the question is not, “Am I qualified?” Sometimes it is simply, “Am I willing?”
Later in Luke 10, the disciples returned excited because even demons had submitted to them in Jesus’ name. Jesus redirected their attention and told them that their greatest reason for rejoicing was not what they had accomplished, but that their names were written in heaven. That keeps everything in the right place.
The greatest thing about my story is not that I organized a successful car show. It is not how much money was provided, how many cars filled the building, or how many people attended. The greatest thing is that Jesus showed grace to a man who once could not see a reason to keep living and allowed him to become a small part of helping somebody else find hope.
That is grace.
So when you look around and see something broken, keep praying. Pray for workers. Pray for people willing to step into the places where others are hurting. And while you are praying, be willing to ask one more question:
“Lord, is there something You want me to do?”
Today’s Challenge
What is something you keep looking at and thinking, “Somebody needs to do something”?
Ask God whether there is one faithful step He wants you to take. You may not be called to fix the whole problem. You may simply be called to stop walking past it.
Prayer
Father God, thank You for seeing people who are hurting, lost, discouraged, and without hope. Open my eyes to the harvest around me. Send workers into Your fields, and if You are calling me to be one of them, give me the courage and wisdom to obey. Help me trust You when I do not have every answer or every resource figured out. Keep me humble if You choose to use me, and remind me that the glory belongs to You. Most of all, remind me that my greatest joy is not what I accomplish for You, but that through Jesus Christ I belong to You. Amen.
