01/11/2025
I struggled with my devotional reading this morning. The bulk of it dealt with the fact that when we answer God's call in our lives then we, or other people around us, could suffer. Have you ever considered this? Perhaps you are new to the faith and are still of the belief that answering God’s call is all about us and is always an easy choice; that any suffering it involves is ours, and ours alone. This is a false assumption.
“And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.”
Luke 23:26 KJV
The more I thought about the suffering of those about me the more I began to see that, yes, my personal adherence to the call of the Lord does impact my family, and others around me. When I answered God’s call and joined my church's intercessory prayer team on Monday nights it took me away from my family. You might be wondering how that qualifies as suffering, but here is an example.
One Monday several years ago my wife's family wanted to take her aging Aunt and Uncle to dinner. They were in poor health and in their late eighties. This was a wonderful act of love, but it meant that I had to make a choice between going to prayer that night or participating in this family event. If I didn't go to dinner then my wife would be upset with me for embarrassing her by making her go alone, if I did... I would be missing prayer and not performing what the Lord had called me to do. So, after going back and forth I chose dinner to soothe my wife and relieve her suffering. It was the wrong choice... a poor choice that was highlighted further by the fact that as we sat in the restaurant eating dinner the very woman who had revealed she had received a word from God regarding me to my two prayer partners, and told them that the time of mourning was over, and it was time for them to select a new third member to their group, walked in with her husband. I had chosen my family over my calling and the Lord was correcting me by this woman's very presence. I had chosen to have dinner over the suffering of my wife... and the woman who had foretold of my calling to the prayer team never knew she was being used yet again to reinforce that call. The woman didn’t chastise me, no, my turmoil was internal. I was wrestling within myself.
My story might seem to be a minor example, but when God calls us it could bring much greater hardship to those around us. Here is an example from the Bible... a young wealthy man asked Jesus how he could have eternal life and…
“Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.”
Matthew 19:21-22 KJV
At first blush it seems that if the young man were to sell his possessions the suffering person here would be the young man himself, but it would have reached beyond that, God would have provided for him. Those who would possibly suffer included his family members who would then be destitute, it would have been the servants who now have a good master but who might have an abusive one if sold, or even the community where he lived that would lose the benefit of his goodness and philanthropy... so the young man chose his earthly fortune and his worldly allegiance over God, and then walked away from his calling and quite possibly eternal life. What would we have chosen? Suddenly the choice isn’t all about us.
In these two examples how would you choose? Would you choose dinner or prayer? How about God and your eternal life or your family's wellbeing? The first seems so easy to make, and the latter so difficult, but they are the same... we are choosing between placing the Lord over those we love around us. Will we choose to answer a call that might bring some kind of hardship and suffering to others? Who would bear our cross as Simon of Cyrene did for Jesus? Who will weep for themselves and their children when we choose?
“And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?””
Luke 23:27-31 ESV
This is a difficult subject, and it highlights a decision that each of us must make when the time comes. What will our choice be? Who will come first, and who will suffer? How will we choose? No one can answer this for us because it is a very personal choice and can only be made by each of us individually at the moment of decision.
So, if you are in the throes of that choice today... choose wisely. If you have never been asked to choose... be prepared too; and if you have already chosen, then I hope and pray you chose correctly. Search out your soul and pray fervently to ensure that you are truly receiving a call from God, then choose wisely… eternity might lay in the balance.
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”
Matthew 4:18-20 ESV
We choose to follow Jesus and that was a life changing choice, but then each time the Lord calls on us we are asked to choose yet again; some might seem to be small choices like dinner or one session of Monday night prayer, while some are large like leaving home for the missionary field. But each choice involves great joy and imminent suffering. In that moment of choice God will give us His joy, and He will soothe the suffering, but the choice must always be made. Are we prepared to make our choice wisely? Will God’s divine will always be what we choose as right, and will we follow it without hesitation as Peter did when he left his nets?
Prayer:
Father I thank you for calling me to obey your will, and I pray that my choices regarding your desire for my life are always quick and made correctly. I ask for your strength and courage each time you ask me to choose between your will for me and the earthly consequences of that choice. Don't let me tarry or waver in my reasoning but choose your path always. Father, I know that if there is suffering you will always sooth those who suffer, if they will only reach out to you. I know that even though your plan involves me, it also includes provision for all those around me. You are a great God and forever good. You will ask nothing of me that comes to evil or is wrong, and that any call for me also involves others who will hear your will for themselves. We are intertwined Lord; I trust your steady hand as you weave the shuttle of your will through the tapestry of our lives. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God, and perfect is your will for me. Holy are you who calls me and steady your hand that smooths the ripples left when I answer, “Here am I Lord.” So, call me as you see fit Father, and let your Holy Spirit show me your true will and give me discernment when it is my voice calling and which sounds so much like yours to me. Give me strength as I do the hard things for you and ease my worry over the others who are affected as I do so. You once told me not to worry about my family when you saved me from the waters of the lake, and you reassured me that they were yours just as I was… that you would care for them just as carefully as you had always cared for me. So, help me trust you in this Abba, and ease my mind that I might take solace in your love for them. Help me to praise your name in the storms, and winds that blow about me. Help me withstand the waves as I lean into them in obedience to you. Assure me before I falter, or even consider the slightest change of heart. Hear this my prayer because you are my strong tower, and my guiding light… in you I trust not only my life and salvation, but the lives and salvations of all those impacted when I bend down to pick up the cross of Jesus and begin to follow Him towards Calvary and the completion of your will for Him. Give me the strength of Simon, the Cyrenian, and the love of John for your Son Jesus.
Let all who you have called, call now, or will ever call, say together as one… AMEN!
“He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
Micah 6:8 ESV
Rich Forbes