“Come now therefore, and I will send thee to Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:10
There is a great hymn, written by G. Matheson, one stanza of which is this: “O Love, that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee, I give Thee back the life I owe, That in Thine ocean depths its flow, May richer, fuller be.” The great thrust of the hymn is the everlasting, enduring love of God, which, in spite of all suffering and opposition, “…wilt not let me go.” Paul puts it like this: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38,39) Why is the matter of the everlasting love of God so very important, in particular as it pertains to the calling of God, first with respect to fellowship with Christ, and then as it applies to the will and purpose of God that every believer has been called to fulfill? It is because of the unchangeableness of God’s calling in love, first of all in bringing the sinner to Himself, but then, to guide the believer into “the paths of righteousness” with regard to his particular calling. It was David Livingstone who wrote: “I only have one life, And that will soon be past; I want my life to count for Christ, What’s done by Him will last.” The eternal love of God encompasses without and within the entire existance of the believer. The call of God is, in that atmosphere and active love of God, revealed and provided for, so that on an individual basis, the individual believer can know God in a very special way, which contributes to the whole knowledge of Christ within the church. It is, as the individual, called according to the will of God, embarks upon that calling, in God’s time, and in God’s way, that God reveals not only that Christ is WITH the believer sent forth, but is WITHIN the believer by the Spirit, to provide for every need. In one sense, the calling of God is a designated mission, accompanied by the specific and sufficient gifts for it’s accomplishment. There may be different steps, different aspects of the mission, that are revealed as life is lived, and Christ is served, but the great thrust of the life IS a mission, with the power of God by the Spirit, to accomplish it for God’s glory. How then is one to live in light of these truths?
The letter to the Hebrews, as well as the account in Exodus, reveals to us that there were “rumblings” in the heart of Moses concerning his calling long before God called him specifically at Mount Horeb, from the burning bush. We find that Moses, while the adoptive son of Pharoah’s daughter, “…chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” (Heb. 11:25) His knowledge of God was certainly very real to him, for he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.” (v.27) Moses was forced to flee Egypt, forced to leave all that Egypt had for him, from a worldly standpoint: position, pleasure, possesions, and power. But, there was something that had a greater influence upon him, and it was the call of God, that drawing of his heart towards God, and the things of God, and away from Egypt. From the early forty years of his life, the heavenly “pull” was upon him, to seek that which was eternal. God sent him into a desert for forty years, there to marry, have a family, and learn to tend sheep. Why? It was so that he could receive the clear and concise, convincing call of God, which would remain unchanged upon him.
Dear Father, Show us Thy calling. In Jesus’ name, Amen.