Answering The Call

Ok, so I am a bit traditional in my choice of picture! Old phones rang and you didn’t necessarily know who was calling. Nowadays we can (if we wish), pick and choose our communications because we know exactly who is calling (or texting)! Have so-called advances in technology actually created bad habits in us in that respect? – We can choose to answer or not, on our own terms!

As for Moses, well God used a slightly more dramatic method of communication, and certainly not very subtle! We know the story… Moses was a fugitive effectively in the deserts of Midian, after fleeing Egypt to avoid answering an inevitable murder charge! For forty years, he got on with tending sheep. He must have felt that was as good as it was going to get. He certainly had no intention whatsoever of going back to the place of his birth! I mean, why make things difficult, when at least he had a comfortable, safe and good enough life, if less luxurious and exciting than he might have expected.

God had a better idea! Unfortunately, Moses did not relish the thought of returning to Egypt and the best part of two chapters detail all the reasons he had for not obeying ‘The Call’. We can understand Moses surely. We sympathise with his dilemma. On the one hand, refusing God was obviously a very bad idea, but on the other hand, going to Egypt must have seemed suicidal, despite the passage of time that had elapsed! Besides he had a comfortable and familiar life now – no worries, no particular stresses, just sheep!

What became increasingly more worrying for Moses, after he had got over the shock of the burning bush (that wasn’t burning!), was that for every excuse or valid reason he came up with, God always seemed to have an answer! Moses was no match for Almighty God, who had of course been preparing him for this mission all his life – food for thought!

In the end Moses went back to Egypt, and the rest, as they say, is history (the history of a nation delivered from slavery, followed by a very long walk in the desert)! …What a calling!

When God calls, do we answer? Do we recognise when He does call? Are we picking and choosing what we respond to? (a bit like those texts and messages!)

I do believe we all have a calling to something that God wants us to do in his Kingdom. I do not believe there are any ‘passengers’ in God’s Church. We can often think of a ‘calling’ as something dramatic like the one Moses received, but most us won’t be called to something so drastic and disruptive. The truth is we may be called to simply ‘stand’ and ‘witness’ in the situation we are already in, whether that be at home, amongst family, at work, or in our community.

Our calling does not stay the same necessarily either over time. I could testify to being called to be a youth leader, but I am not one anymore. I could testify to being called quite specifically to be pastor of a church, but I don’t pastor a church anymore, though I do exercise the same pastoral gifts in a different context. I could also testify to receiving a ‘challenging’ calling to reach out to homeless people, which continues to this day – not quite as big as Moses’ calling I agree, but... well, they can still be rather awkward people!

The key is to be open to what God is saying and often he will say the unexpected! Moses was not looking to go on a long journey back to Egypt… and the rest! He was called to go! He could not deny God had spoken. The key for us is to recognise God’s voice and respond in obedience, remembering that when God ‘calls’ us, it is always a ‘step up’ or a step beyond our comfort zone!

Whatever our calling we can be sure God will equip us fully for the task – a simple statement of fact – He does! His resources are never-ending and He knows exactly what we need for any task He gives us.

When were we last amazed at his equipping and provision? When did we last seek God to ask him what we should be doing now?

Unfortunately, the word ‘retirement’ does not appear in the bible! We should all be seeking God for what comes next, or for confirmation that we are still in the right place and doing what we should in serving Him.

In the context of the ten year church vision, what is God calling you to?