In previous blogs, I have suggested the value in examining our call. Rarely are calls so pure that they are perfectly understood. We are speaking of the Eternal communicating to the finite. As that communication takes place, it must be formatted in a manner that the one receiving the call can understand. I am fully confident that God called me to ministry but the first awareness of that call happened when I was only 12 years old. It had to be couched in language and imagery that a young boy could understand. In my case it appealed to my hunger to feel important and a sense of adventure. As childish as it may seem now, I saw a picture of a missionary walking through a jungle and there was a lion in his path. The combination of being sent by God and also facing lions in the jungle seemed to be a perfect focus for my life.
Over the years the nature of my call evolved and was reshaped several times but it did not violate the original sense of adventure and of serving something bigger than myself. What I am suggesting is that there is value in moving beyond that first experience of call without violating the underlying truth of God connecting with you.
When you think of the story of Israel, their sense of the presence of God was often couched in a framework that would need to be reformulated several times in their journey. The authenticity of the call was real but it was important not to be frozen in their original understanding. They believed that God had called them to be a special people. When they were defeated as a nation and sent into exile, it would have been easy to conclude that their original call was false. It was the prophets who guided them in reexamining what it meant to be the People of God. This reexmination eventually revealed a broader understanding of God’s presence that included not just their nation but God’s intention for the whole world.
There is power in reflecting on the different forms that your understanding of your call has taken. How has your life experience reshaped your understanding of that call. Sometimes, like for Israel, that will occur because of a traumatice experience of failure. It is not the truth of God that is at stake in such an experience but rather whether you are now prepared for a deeper understanding of God’s role in your life. What may seem like a serious defeat can be the bubbling yeast that will give rise to a profound experience of the redeeming presence of God in your life.
