03/05/2017
We don't choose our calling but we do choose to be loyal to it. This is my concentration this morning, and one of my greatest fears in failing Jesus. Will I find joy in serving Him, or drudgery in performing a service that perhaps was once a calling but has been supplanted by a new one; one I haven't yet grasped?
I see Moses when I think of this...
“And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.”
Exodus 3:4, 10-12 KJV
Hearing your calling requires listening and waiting on the Lord, but as you have been dutifully performing those things that Jesus has called you to do, did He call you out... and have you missed it?
When I was young and playing sports, the coach would put me into the game. I was so focused on doing well and intensely playing the sport that I heard nothing around me. I didn't hear my parent's loud cheering from the bleachers, and I didn't even hear my coach shouting instructions from the sideline. When play finally stopped, or the coach sent in a replacement for me, he would chide me by saying "didn't you hear me yelling at you?" But of course I hadn't.
We are often this way when we have received a calling from the Lord. We want to do exceptionally at what He has asked of us, and become so focused on its execution that we fail to hear Him giving us instructions or changing what we should be doing. Seasoned pastors often become attuned to God's call... and His calling them out, but even they can become so caught up in the moment and the task at hand that they miss God yelling "Stand Down!"
We have a tendency to see and hear what we expect, or want, to hear. We take over the reigns and instead of being the player we become our own coach. Well, it's hard to teach yourself something that you don't know, and it is the same in faith.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”
Numbers 20:12 KJV
So when Jesus puts us into the game, that is an opportunity to serve Him, but even in that service we should remain loyal to the team and the coach. We need to listen for instructions and even hear the change of plays that, perhaps, pulls us off the field. To do so we have to put them ahead of our own playing and desires... we need to be attuned to the coach's voice and what is happening on the field.
Like Moses, we can get so focused on what is happening around us that we take the calling as our primary goal and assume control of it. In fact God is the focus and our calling is just the opportunity to serve Him. Oswald Chambers recognized this as well, and wrote of this when he said:
"If you have received a ministry from the Lord Jesus, you will know that the need is never the call: the need is the opportunity. The call is loyalty to the ministry you received when you were in real touch with Him." - Oswald Chambers
Listening for our Lord's voice in not only the comings of a calling, but also the goings, is paramount in our life of faith. Sometimes God has a hard time getting us to start acting on a call He has given us, but He often has an equally tough time getting us to stop! We must always listen for His voice and learn to recognize it amidst the din of life... of a call.
Prayer:
Father, help me hear your will when you call me. Give me the ability to recognize your voice and to listen for it always. Teach me Lord to be still and know that you are God, and never let me confuse those things you have asked me to do, with you yourself. Holy Father I desire to always be prepared to do those things you ask of me; let me be equally ready to stop when you call me back, and help me to be still once more as I listen for a new word from you. Jesus, speak to me in the quiet and teach me to listen for the Father's whispered will... even as you did. Father God, I thank you for each opportunity to serve you, but never let me place what you have called me to do above you. Let me always be cognizant that even your call can become a false god if I place it before you.
Rich Forbes