Blog 11
Hello again one and all! I truly appreciate those of you who have walked this blogging journey with me so far. Last time we discussed being obedient to God’s call in our lives and we ended with a promise that this post would contemplate how to know if the call is truly from God. A friend of mine a number of years ago jokingly asked, “How can I determine if what I thought was the Holy Spirit giving me guidance was really Him and not just indigestion from that big dinner I had last night?” Ironically, the more time I spend in ministry the more I am realizing this is more than a joke; it is a legitimate question that many believers in the church are struggling with in some form or another. Unfortunately, Abraham’s journey does not give us much insight into how he discerned how his call was from God so we will need to explore elsewhere for wisdom.
If I am honest the hardest part of discerning God’s call from the rest of the noise the world is trying to funnel my direction is the apparent difference in how God communicated in biblical times versus now. God’s communication in Scripture seems very straight-forward and direct even when it comes in the form of visions. The callings of Isaiah and Jeremiah are so different than what we commonly hear from people who are leaders of the church today. The introduction to the book of Hebrews confirms this difference by saying in verses 1:1-2 that, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” So if God doesn’t speak to us “like that” anymore then how can we discern what He is trying to say? I propose there is more overlap than we might think.
The call story of the prophet Samuel is a favorite in our house…both of our girls love when we get to this point in their Bibles. When we read it we pretend the voice of God calling Samuel is this big booming voice calling, “SAMUEL, SAMUEL!!” and we laugh as they imitate that voice in their own silly ways. As I reflected in preparation for this blog, however, it stood out to me that this is the very reason we don’t understand when God is calling us. If God spoke to Samuel in the big booming “GOD VOICE” that we imagine happened then it seems unlikely Samuel would confuse the voice with that of his teacher, Eli. We read in 1 Sam. 3:1-8 that this was a time that the word of the Lord was rare and that it had not yet been revealed to Samuel. Because of this, Samuel went and woke Eli up three times because he thought it was Eli calling him, not God. Samuel had been serving in the Temple under Eli’s supervision for years at this point so he would have been very familiar with what Eli’s voice sounded like but when God calls to him there is nothing to differentiate between God’s voice and Eli’s voice. Eli finally recognized that God was calling to Samuel and instructed Samuel to answer simply, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Samuel does so and the rest is an amazing prophetic history. In this we see similarity to the call of Abraham: spend time in the presence of God and make yourself available to whatever He may have in store for you. We can’t recognize His voice if we are not spending time with Him; whether in prayer, contemplation, reading Scripture, or some other way, it is imperative to spend time with Him if we are to understand what He is trying to call us to do. To be honest, I will probably continue to read Samuel’s call in the big booming voice because of the joy it brings, but also making sure to instruct my daughters that this isn’t necessarily how they should expect God to communicate to them. The call stories of Isaiah and Jeremiah that I mentioned earlier, although foreign in nature to us, offer us insight as well. We read both prophets being in God’s presence and recognizing/confessing their unworthiness to be there. Upon this confession, God purifies them by touching their mouths. It is the purification process that enables them to carry out the ministry that God then calls them to perform. Likewise in our lives we must recognize that we bring no worthiness to carry out what He has called us to do. We must allow Him to purify our mouths, our hearts, our minds and our souls not with the vision of a coal but with the sacrificial offering of our lives being conformed into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Without this purification we will be ill-equipped to accomplish the works He has called us to and we will be encumbered with self-doubt and anxiety because we are uncertain if we are truly aligned with Him. We can also be certain that God will never call us to be less conformed to the image of His Son…if you are trying to ascertain if the call you are receiving is from Him or not, ask yourself the question, “If I perform this work or do these things will there ever be a point where I can see myself becoming less like Christ instead of more?” If, after prayer and seeking wisdom from other godly people in your life, you answer “yes” to that question then that was last night’s dinner and not God talking.
We must remember that God is not trying to hide His call and purposes for us; the Psalms and Proverbs are saturated with confessions that He guides and directs our paths. If you are humbly coming to God with a posture of availability seeking to be conformed to Christ’s image, you can trust He will make clear what He is calling you to do; He will establish our paths and light our paths but we have to walk the paths. The God who communicated through a bush of fire to Moses is the same one who communicated through a donkey to Balaam and the same one who communicated through “a gentle whisper” to the prophet Elijah. Humble yourself, be purified by Him, and be available for His call and I promise (as does Scripture) that you will hear Him speak to you in a way you will know is Him alone. I pray that God would make His call clear to you this day and you would trust and walk in His confidence. Blessings to all of you! Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6