Dear Ones:
We have been told that there are two things that never change: taxes and death. There is a third…the calling of God. It is first a calling to fellowship with Christ, and secondly, it is a call to fellowship in service with/by/and for Him. How do we know this calling, these gifts?
When Jeremiah was called of God, the Lord said: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” (Jer. 1:5) The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen…” (Gal. 1:15-16) When Samson sinned against God by the revealing of his Nazarite vow to his enemy, Delilah and the Philistines, he lost his strength, lost his eyesight, and became a slave at the mercy of his enemies. Did his calling and gifts change? Were they retracted, taken back by God? No. His abilities, strengthened by the power of the Spirit, were “neutralized, rendered ineffective.” Something had happened to his attitude of faith, so essential for the full realization of his potential. When his hair began to grow, so did the return of that attitude of faith in God, and the belief that the “gifts and the calling of God are without repentance.” (Romans 11:29)
We are often very short-sighted, and circumstance-driven, in our living on this earth. We forget that we are the creation of God, the objects of His love and power. We lose sight also that we are part of a grand design that only He can reveal to us. Part of that design is His calling, again, both and foremost to fellowship with Him (1 Cor. 1:9), and then to His service, His purposes. God ALWAYS supplies the “gifts,” as well as the power (the enablement) by His Spirit. So then, we come to this question? What is God’s specific calling for my life? Can I know for sure that calling?
First, we must KNOW that God is not like we are, and this, in that when He speaks, promises, declares something, He will fulfill it. There were those in Jesus’ day who were not sure if what He said was indeed the teaching from heaven, the word of God. In answer to this issue, Jesus said: “If any man will do His will, he shall KNOW of the doctrine (teaching), whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.” The first condition to knowing the gifts and the calling of God is “willingness,” i.e. the surrender of the life to Christ first and foremost. James writes: “If ANY of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally (freely), and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5) It is inconceivable that God, who gave His only Son to save us, would not, through His word, and in circumstances of His choosing, reveal to us what His will is for our lives. Are we truly willing to know His calling, and are we committed to obeying that calling? Let us be sure that His calling is without repentance. Samson learned this lesson, and proved the reality of it. It was a matter of faith in the faithfulness of God.
Dear Father, give us grace to see that Thy ways and thoughts are not ours, until we make them our own. Help us to understand that Thy wisdom is from before the beginning of this world, and that Thou hast called us all, first to know and walk with Thee, then to know the way in which we are to go. Lead us, take us by the hand, reveal to us the wonder of Thy goodness, and Thy sufficiency. Then shall we be brought into conformity with Thy purposes and ways. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Love, Dad