11/24/2023
When the Lord gives us a specific calling, or mission that He wants us to accomplish, how do we know it, and how do we know when it is complete? Have you ever left spiritual business unfinished because you took your eyes off of the Lord? Whether it is praying for someone each day, being a loving spouse, serving in a far off land, or simply mowing the yard of a sick neighbor; when does God call us, and when does removing us from that call become His desire? Do we hear God calling us to something different or is what we are feeling the result of our own lack of determination, or dedication?
“To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.”
Psalms 123:1-2 ESV
I talk to pastors all the time, and it is always interesting to me how they came to feel the call of God when they first joined the ministry. I have also talked to those who chose the ministry as a career without hearing God calling them at all. The former pastors, for the most part, remain in God’s service until He calls them away, while those that chose to seek a career as a pastor of their own volition often go into other things, or struggle mightily to accomplish what God leads the chosen ones into by His strength. Just like a master has various tasks for his servants, God also has various callings and desires for His children.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”
Hebrews 12:1 ESV
One such failed Pastor had thought that he was to be a man of the cloth, not because he had been called, but because he wanted to follow in his earthly father’s footsteps. He struggled on for a few years, and then left the ministry entirely. It was a time of great spiritual upheaval within him, and he felt as though he had abandoned God. In fact, he had not, because he had never been called to the ministry in the first place. Later, he did get a Godly call, but it wouldn’t be of his own choosing, and although it wasn’t what he would have chosen for himself, God's calling changed and saved his life, and the lives of many others.
When God calls us it really does change our lives. We often struggle with being transformed in this manner, and the only way we can possibly go on is to keep our eyes firmly fixed upon the Lord and Jesus. God's calling is never the real question, but our willingness to be transformed when called, and to do what He has called us to do, is! We must obey Him, and endure our call, even as Jesus did.
“looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:2 ESV
I met another Pastor who was called to reach out to lost souls in the Middle East. Our meeting was profound, and an incredible experience. I was given words of encouragement for him that pertained to his calling, but as we spoke I also received an unexpected calling for myself... I was told to pray for this man. I am not talking about a single prayer (which did occur as we spoke), but to pray every day, and not just for a week, a month, or a year, but for the rest of my life.
There aren’t many callings that are meant to last a lifetime. Calls to the ministry are, and my call to prayer was, but most are single occurrences, or last for periods of time. Sometimes, our calling is even modified in some way as time passes by.
Men and women are called to a pastoral vocation, and then within that calling, they are called to serve in a specific church or ministry. Another thing that interests me is how God calls a minister to a particular church, and then later calls him out of it. In almost every calling to serve somewhere there is very little doubt, it is like God pushes His finger into the soft ground and drops a seed into the depression; but when a Pastor is called out of a calling it is like ripping the roots of a full grown plant from the ground... it takes a great deal of struggle, and effort. The struggle isn’t on God’s part, but in the life of the Pastor and those he serves. He asks such questions as “Is this truly of you Lord, or is this my own desire for change?” And quite often he asks “how will my congregation be able to carry on without me?” This struggle can involve a feeling that we have abandoned God’s call prematurely, and invariably it includes a feeling that the success or failure of the church or mission was as a result of our own weak efforts... and was not firmly part of God's greater plan... as it truly was. Being in a calling for a lifetime involves something quite different, it requires total commitment, and that our lives become intertwined with the day to day requirements of the calling to the point that we find it hard, if not impossible, to separate the two.
Earlier I gave the example of praying for a pastor for the rest of my life. Doing this is not something to be taken lightly, and it involves a great deal of struggle and faith to insure that one’s prayers are not just words, but a true expression of intercession. It is waking up in the middle of the night, or having our day interrupted with the sudden need to pray... right now! These prayers are occasionally for provision, sometimes for protection, or for some other reason, but the call is loud and we know that the need is urgent. I have occasionally found myself worrying about what would happen to the pastors I am bound in prayer to if I became too ill to pray for him... what would happen if I was in an accident that left me in a coma. The answer is always the same... I am doing this for the Lord, and if he pulls me out of it he will place someone else in my place. You see, the task isn’t about me, it is about God’s will being done. Like all those who are called, I am just the best tool for the job at this time... just as the Pastor for whom I pray is the best tool for his calling.
So we know when the calling has reached an end by looking up... by asking God if He is calling us away. God chose Elijah, and then he called him away, but he placed Elisha in the void that would have been left. God does this with us as well... we are never the end of God’s will... just the means of implementing it now.
“And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”
2 Kings 2:11 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for calling me in amazing ways because I know that when I do your will I am serving you. I thank you for the pastors you place in my path, and I thank you for all of your other children who hear various callings through your Word and respond to you by say “hear am I.” I know Father that one day you will call me out, and you will eventually bring me home. I know that in so doing your call, and will, passes on to another as your desire proceeds on without end. In this moment in time, and within my present callings, I pray that you give me the strength to do your bidding and to serve your will well. Help me Lord to separate the work I do for you from my own self... never let me confuse what I do at your beck and call as being my work and accomplishment. If ever I do this Father, then remove me from it swiftly because I was never truly serving you, or have become a broken tool in your hand. You are great beyond all measure, and the strength and other gifts you give us, that allow us to serve you, are never our own. Send us to do as you will, and call us back when our involvement in your will has been served. You alone are to be glorified, and in all of our efforts you are to be the sole focus... praise be to you in all things, and for all time.
Rich Forbes