Wednesday Bible Blurb “The Call”
The phone rings, ring, ring…ring, ring, “Hello, this is Mike, to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?” “God”. “Um, what, is someone pranking me?” “Nope, God here. How are you doing today?” “Um, what, gulp. Who is this really?” “God.” “Oh, give me a break!” “I did, now I am giving you a call. It is time for you to go to work for me. Don’t you remember my friend Moses? I called him from a burning bush, he took his flip flops off and went to work for me. What is so different about Me using your cell phone to give you a call than a burning bush to call Moses?” “Is my cell phone going to catch on fire?” No, but go ahead and take your flip flops off because this is a Holy call.”
Wow, God calls us each and everyone personally, we just need to recognize it. Not every call is as blunt and interesting as Moses and the burning bush, that did not burn, but each time God calls us, we need to listen and do what He calls us to do. Continuing, “And don’t think I sound like that voice over guy in the Ten Commandments movie with Charlton Heston. I have a much deeper voice.” “Yes sir.” “Nothing, absolutely nothing, is more powerful, more intimate, and more important than to listen to the call of God our Creator, and to realign yourself to the very purpose of life and the universe by following his call whenever your life leads.”[1] We can read about the entire calling of Moses in Ex. 3:1-6.
When God calls us, and He does call us, are we listening and responding? We are provided with some great examples of God calling to humans and shown how they responded.
Abraham. “Now the LORD had said to Abram: Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great…” (Gen. 12:1-2a[NKJV]). God was not so subtle with Abram as He spoke directly to him. The cellphone had not yet been invented at that time. How would we react to God talking to us this way? Would we do what He said to do?
Samuel. Just a young boy promised to God by his mom. Samuel was working in the temple for the corrupt High Priest Eli when God spoke directly to the little boy. The LORD called out, “Samuel.” (I Sam. 3:6). The young boy thought the High priest had called him and he ran to the high priest who had not called out to Samuel. Eli sent him back to bed and told him if He calls again to say, “Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears.” (vs. 9). Then God said, “Samuel, Samuel.” (vs 10). God called the young boy at a very early age and most importantly, Samuel LISTENED to God and did as he was instructed. Would we listen to God?
Jeremiah. One of the most amazing prophets ever called by God. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” 6 Then said I: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” 7 But the Lord said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord.” (Jere. 1:5-8). Called while still in the womb of his mother to be a prophet to Israel.
Apostles. Jesus went one by one and called those who would be His disciples. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” (John 15:16). God made twelve phone calls and eleven were successful. A very good sales ratio.
Have we ever thought of what it means for God to give us a call? “Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and service”[2] Amazingly, no one can approach Jesus unless God wills it. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44). This should shock us to our inner spiritual corps; God must call us to be in His family. We cannot get there without Him calling us and giving us His grace. We are entirely incapable of entering His family unless He calls us into it.
Not everyone called makes it into the family of God. Judas, one of the twelve called disciples betrayed Jesus (John 18:2). Simon Magus lusted for power and wanted to selfishly obtain it for his own purposes. (Acts 8:9-24). Not everybody answers the high calling of God to serve Him. “Many are called but few are chosen.” (Matt. 24:14). Make our election and calling sure (II Pet. 1:10).
We are called with a high and lofty purpose; to go and preach the gospel of the coming Kingdom of God and to preach the apostle’s doctrine of repentance and baptism into the family of God (Matt. 28:19-20 and Acts 2:38,42).
The next time your phone rings and the number is (777) 777-7777 answer the call. It’s not spam, it’s God calling you into His family. Answer His call.
[1] Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling God’s Purpose For Your Life. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2018), vii.
[2] Guinness, 5.
