No matter your age, heeding God’s call can be a challenge
By Dean Collins
Like me, you probably get several calls a day. If you have the caller’s contact information, you know who’s calling and can better decide whether to answer. Sometimes people don’t answer my calls. Usually these are contacts who know I’m a college president, so maybe they assume I’m calling to ask for money! (Sometimes I might be...but that’s a different devotional.)
I usually reject the call if I don’t know the number. I don’t particularly want a warranty offer or another political message. But one time I didn’t answer a number I didn’t know, and the person on the other end was calling me to offer a large gift for the college and help raising more. So now I feel a dilemma every time the phone rings and the number is unknown.
What do you do when God calls? He probably won’t use the phone to reach you. But he might. God might use the person on the other end to nudge you toward something God wants you to do. That happened to me not long ago. I tried to say no for three weeks, but it became clear that, despite my objections, God did want me to say yes.
An early call
God calls some of us early and some of us later. For Jeremiah the call came early. In fact chapter 1 of Jeremiah says that while God called Jeremiah as a youth (probably a teenager), God knew Jeremiah even before he entered the womb. That idea ought to make you ponder God’s involvement in our lives. If God is almighty and all knowing and eternal, then it is entirely possible he knows us even before conception.
It is consistent with all the big story of God that he knows each one of us and wants a relationship with us. From the creation story in Genesis to the great banquet table in Revelation, we read of God’s eternal desires to know us, love us, and redeem us. The consistent question is whether we will answer his call both to relationship and to discipleship. Discipleship comes with responsibilities.
A senior moment
For Moses the call came at eighty! It is obvious God was involved in the rescue of baby Moses, yet the call to service came much, much later. And similarly, both young Jeremiah and older Moses presented their protests to God. Their objections focused on their perceived inadequacies. They didn’t believe they had the proper communication skills to be effective and they feared they would be rejected.
I’ll admit God gave both Jeremiah and Moses a tough assignment. At some point in their journeys each wanted to quit. Neither did, but the feelings were strong at times. Both experienced that God was their warrior who fought for them and their provider even in the most fragile moments.
Jeremiah was called to “pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” Most of us would likely only sign up for the last two items in that list. Yet sometimes God might also call us to do the less desirable things, and we might want to be careful to listen for his voice even on those calls.
I’m confident God knows your number and your location. I’m also sure he knows your strengths and your weaknesses. He is fully aware of whether your are avoiding his call or close to being receptive. It probably feels risky, but if you never answer, then you will never know the overwhelming and never-ending love of God.
Your time with God’s Word
Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:5-6; Exodus 2:2-3; 3:1-5; 4:1, 10; Jeremiah 20:7-9; 20:11 ESV
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
