GOD IS CALLING US
Text: Jeremiah 1:4-10
You have heard of the term, Predestination. When you read the first chapter of Jeremiah, you cannot but help to think about how Jeremiah’s life was predestined or predetermined. Normally, when we think of the term “predestined or predestination” we think of John Calvin. Jeremiah was given the choice of responding to this call. The call was within the will of God. To avoid the call was not in God’s will. God calls all of us to salvation, but not all who are called will choose to comply. Here, in Jeremiah’s call, God had called him to be his mouthpiece for a people who were gone astray. God had called Jeremiah to be a prophet. Jeremiah could have chosen against God’s will and if he had, his life would have been miserable because he would have chosen a course other than the one that God had mapped out for him.
Like most all people, Jeremiah questioned his purpose in life. God had informed him that his purpose was predetermined even before his birth. Jeremiah was trying to think of some of the things that might disqualify him.
Moses and Isaiah also tried to think of how they were not fit for the task that God had called them. Like Moses and Isaiah, Jeremiah mentioned his lack of eloquent speech as a reason that would disqualify him. F. Gerald Kroll acknowledged Jeremiah’s reluctance as far as speech was concerned. But, Kroll even took it a step further as mentions the apporoximate age of Jeremiah who was in his early twenties at the time. (Jerry Falwell. Executive ed. The Complete Bible Commentary. F. Gerald Kroll. “Jeremiah.” Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999, p. 874). God made it clear that this factor was not a problem.
God was clear to point out that his manner of speech would be dependent upon what God put on his heart to speak. God was telling Jeremiah as He tells us, that “He is not interested in our ability but in our availability.” (Michael Duduit ed. The Abingdon Preaching Annual: 1995 Edition. Michael Duduit. “When God Calls”. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994, p. 289). God is essentially telling us all that same thing that “He is not interested in our ability but in our availability”. God may not call us to be a prophet but if we are willing and listening to His call, God will inform us of what His task is for us.
GOD CALLS US
God might not always call us to be prophets, but God does call us to serve Him. In Jeremiah’s case, God had called him to be a prophet. That raises the question what is a prophet? A prophet is someone whom God has set apart for service in a special way. The messages of God’s prophets come from God Himself. The key is that God’s prophets be in tune with what God is communicating to them. The key to being who God wants us to be overall is to be open to God and how He communicates with us.
Are we listening when God calls us? A friend of mine who is now a pastor entered ministry after her husband had retired from being a pastor. She said one day she was taking a shower when she felt that God was speaking to her and calling her into ministry. Her husband asked her if she had heard God correctly? It seemed odd to him. Why? It seemed odd to him, because he thought that maybe she was entering ministry at a time when it was kind of late in her life to do so. When God calls us to do something, God calls us based upon our gifts regardless of how old we are. Moses was in his early eighties when God called him to service as the instrument through whom He would confront Pharoah to set His people free.
God has His timing when His task and our response to the call will be most effective. “A Sunday School teacher became deeply concerned about the conversion of young woman in her class. She visited her home and presented to her the claims of Christ. The girl listened with respect but said that she was young and had plenty of time, but in her later years would give the subject serious consideration. The teacher went away sorrowful and on her way happened to pass a flower shop. Going in she purchased a dozen of long-stemmed roses. She left them in the box for several days and then mailed them to the girl who received the package with great joy, but when she opened the box she believed that someone had played a joke upon her. Then the teacher called again and the girl told her about the flowers. The teacher said, “I sent them to you”. When you chose not to give Christ your youthful years, you really decided to present him later a life’s faded and withered like these roses.” The girl said, “Teacher, I see it now, it will not be that way. I will give my life to Christ at once and live for him.” (Rev. Fair. “God’s Eye Is Watching You.” From the internet sight SermonCentral.com.).
GOD EMPOWERS US
God does not make mistakes when He calls us to a task. There are times when we avoid the call of God to a task that He has called us to because it was not based on what we planned. We feel fine as long as we can determine where we will go. But, the truth of the matter is that unless we go where God has sent us, we will go in vain. Jonah’s story is a testimony to this truth. God had called him to go to Ninevah to prophesy to the people there. He ran, but he ran in vain. We know the story. Jonah got swallowed by a whale and three days later, he was in Ninevah.
When God calls us, He gives us what we need to get the job done. Jonah had a problem with forgiveness, because the people of Ninevah were his enemies. God gave Jonah the attitude adjustment that he needed to prophesy at Ninevah. When he did what God sent him to do, the people of Ninevah repented. Even the king repented. Jonah was hoping that God would let them have it. Jonah was a lot like the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). The reason that Jonah was a success was because the message he spoke was the message that God gave him to speak.
We could even say that God empowered Jonah in spite of his attitude. Jonah’s success proves the truth of the promise that God’s word will not come back to him void (Isaiah 55: ).
GOD USES OUR TALENTS
God equips and empowers those that He calls to service. God is like a football coach who sees a player with unlocked potential when others might see a waterboy. There was once a doctor who was laughed to scorn because of his theory. His doctor peers seemed to think of him as a waterboy among doctors where his theory was concerned. He had speculated that the reason that so many patients were dying following surgery was because of a poor sanitation factor. He had made the suggestion that doctors thoroughly wash their hands before surgery. He was humiliated and ridiculed by his peers for his theory. The ridicule and humiliation took such a great toll on him that this doctor died in a mental institution. History proved that this doctor was right his antiseptic theory. (paraphrased: Bruce Larson. No Longer Strangers. Waco: Word Book Publisher, 1971, p. 20).
Sometimes it might seem as though God had designed for us to do something that seems mediocre, until it is later revealed to us what our role is or will be. The role of the doctor in the story above seemed mediocre until history later proved that his antiseptic theory was correct. Yes, it is true that the fruits of his theory were never really realized until after his death. But, his contribution became a factor that saved countless lives. How many times do we underestimate the contribution that someone has yet to make? If all things are possible with God, and they are, then we should not be surprised when God’s work is realized through someone that we might have overlooked as insignificant. There are times when our estimates of the abilities of others is so slighting that we might hinder him or her from reaching his or her potential. Again, we might see their efforts as mediocre at best. But, God will often surprise us by unveiling someone’s hidden talent or skill in a way that will prove to benefit those who might have underestimated him or her.
At one time, there was a young man who was a friend to many with musical abilities and talents. It was unfortunate that he was not musically talented as they were. You would think the story ended there, but it did not. This young man had a talent that was somewhat hidden from his peers and even himself. Then, one day, he harnessed his whittling skills to the challenge of building a violin like the ones that his friends would play. When he built his first violin, he showed it to his friends who played his violin. They were astonished and told him to go and show his violin to the best musicians of his day. The best musicians of his day agreed with the younger violinists when they said that his violin was the best quality sounding violin that they had ever heard. The violins made by that person over three hundred years ago in Cremona, Italy are still among the best sounding violins today. Who was this person? His name was Antonio Stradivari. His violins are called Stradivarian violins. (paraphrased: Paul E. Holdcraft. 101 Snappy Sermon Starters. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1951, pp. 84-85).
It should not surprise us that God knows our talents and potential talents because He knew of them even before we were born. God made each of us with a special purpose. It is God’s will that we follow Him and learn who we are as His children and how it is that He has called, is calling and will call us to be in His service. First, God calls us to salvation. Then, God calls us to serve. Our ability is often uncovered in how well or how poorly we make ourselves available for the manner of service that He has called us to.
