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Follow God's Calling

             When you’re driving to a place you’ve never been (or just trying to get somewhere in Waukesha) do you ever get lost? When you make a new recipe does it always turn out? When you assembled your brand new AV cabinet did the pieces match up perfectly? Now, maybe Mapquest said to turn right on Hwy 164 when it should have been a left, or your recipe called for salt when you needed a sugar, or the assembly instructions were written in a foreign language, or just maybe, you thought you didn’t need directions, you changed the recipe, or you didn’t read the instructions before drilling holes in the wrong places. Life can be confusing enough already without our own blunders getting in the way. 

            Samuel lived as a young boy not only during a confusing time for Israel but during a confusing time of his own life when he was trying to figure out what God wanted him to do, but he learned to Follow God’s Calling. Samuel’s situation is similar to ours in some ways – wondering if his career choice was really the right one (would he really want to serve in the ministry so corrupted by men like Eli?), waiting for God to give him some clear direction (God had not spoken directly to his people for quite some time), and working in a job setting that offered as many obstacles as opportunities (Samuel couldn’t just show up and do his thing, he had to deal with people problems like Eli’s wicked sons). In the end, Samuel learned to better Follow God’s Calling. You can do the same and God will bless your life, too – in the form of a Christian character unshaken by the toughest adversity, a more confident approach to decision-making, and a clearer understanding of what God really wants for your future.

He leads those who search for it

             Let’s get right to question many people wonder about this story of God calling Samuel. What’s with the game God is playing? Why doesn’t he come right out and appear to Samuel in broad daylight and say, “Good morning, Samuel, I’m God and I’m here to tell you what to do,” instead of letting Samuel chase around in his pajamas disturbing Eli? Why does it take our great God four tries to finally connect with a little boy who needs a little guidance, it can’t be that difficult, can it? And by the way, as long as we’re thinking about it, why doesn’t God give us his guidance more clearly, too? Why can’t he just come right out and tell me where to work, what to study, how long to wait, what to do, or whom to trust with a plain and simple message – maybe an e-mail with Outlook calendar dates giving us his plan for the next month or the next year, or an angel next to our bed to point the way, or a voice from heaven with God’s approving message, “I like your idea.” After all, God announced his plans directly to Abraham and met with Moses on the mountain, so why can’t he do that for us? Wait a minute. Keep in mind this is the same God who let young David, anointed and eager for the throne of Israel, be bullied for a time by wicked King Saul, and who asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac only to change his mind at the last minute, and who had the apostle Paul often sitting in prison instead of preaching in the synagogue. Why all these distracting disturbances, God? How are we supposed to know what you are calling us to do if you don’t just say it?

            Here’s what we do know. The three trips that Samuel took to Eli’s sleeping quarters were not useless wanderings but preparatory exercise to wake Samuel up (both literally and figuratively) so that he’d be ready to listen to God and hear what he had to say in a manner previously unknown to Samuel. Those three trips gave meaning and direction to Samuel’s adolescent search for identity and purpose; rather than an authority figure telling him, “This is the way it works,” his heavenly Father led him by experience to discover what he might not otherwise believe. Those three trips helped Samuel begin to understand more clearly his purpose in the temple and in his upcoming role as a prophet, to see himself doing more than running errands for Eli. Sure, God can easily put an arrow in the clouds to point the right way, but he usually doesn’t because his goal for you is not to just inform you but to transform you. He wants to shape your character into the likeness of Christ, strengthen your faith to be less self-reliant and depend more on him, stretch your mind to be open to more possibilities, set your heart to more gladly obey his commands, and sink your soul deeper into the depths of his mercy. The Bible says, “Consider it pure joy … whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4). When we don’t get what we want it can feel like God is robbing us of something but the Bible says his goal is to work on us so that we gain more! Trust in your God. He has plans for you. Follow God’s Calling.

             Like the proud mother of two young sons who meets a friend in the grocery store and the friend inquires, “Oh, these must be your two little boys. How old are they?” Without hesitation their mother replies, “The doctor is three and the lawyer is five.” What child wouldn’t want a mother with such hope and confidence? Better yet, we have a Savior who takes what we have, who we are, and shapes us into what is great even if we are in the process of still discovering Jesus and figuring out what he expects of us, like Samuel, Philip, and Nathanael.

            You will face decisions and difficulties in your life just like Samuel, who struggled three times to figure out it was God calling and not Eli. It may take you three years, three majors, three failed relationships, three jobs, three surgeries, or three decades to Follow God’s Calling in your life but don’t be afraid because God is ahead of you as you follow in faith. Some of the best Bible verses to remember are those chosen as graduation verses, calling us to follow God’s loving guidance, like: “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long” (Psalm 25:3-5). When you’re not sure of where God is calling you, trust in him to lead in ways you don’t understand. Like Samuel, you can Follow God’s Calling. He leads those who search for it. What, exactly, does God call us to do? A song called “The Summons” asks each of us in words of Jesus:

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name? Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?

Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known, will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name? Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?

Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare? Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

Will you love the ‘you’ you hide if I but call your name? Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?

Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around through my sigh and touch and sound in you and you in me?

(“The Summons,” written by John L. Bell and Graham Maule. GIA Publications, Chicago, IL. 1987.)

He speaks to those who listen for it

             A student was heard speaking to one of his friends, “We have this weird professor who talks to himself.” “We have a professor who talks to himself all the time, too,” the friend replied, “except he doesn’t know it; he thinks we’re actually listening.” Smarty-pants students who think they don’t need to listen to professors are like rebellious toddlers who cover their ears, stomp their feet and scream at the top of their lungs when mom or dad are trying to say something. “I don’t care what you are saying, I can do fine without it,” is the attitude.  When 1 Samuel 3 reports to us that, “In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions,” it is not picturing God as someone who can’t provide what people need to hear, but picturing the average person as someone with hands over the ears who won’t listen. When was the last time you should have been listening to God, paying attention, taking notes but you were daydreaming, doodling, and disinterested? It could only be because you thought you could do fine without it. And then the test came. And you didn’t know the answers. The only way to save your grade was the one answer you could remember. Jesus. The Word from heaven. The Word made flesh. The Christ who came to save. And he saved you. And now he has something to say to you. Something important. Something kind. Something you can never discover anywhere else. Will you listen?

             1^st Sergeant Christopher Coffin, a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq, had been called to the Middle East five months earlier. After he left home, his wife, Betsy, began finding love notes he had hidden all over their condo. Between the cans of dog food. Sticking out from behind a mirror. Under a pillow. “Betsy, I miss doing the laundry with you and putting it away.” “Honey, when you walk on the beach remember the star we used to see and let it remind you of our love.” As much as the notes were meaningful to her before, now that he’s gone they’re even more meaningful. So she keeps looking, longing for the day she finds another. Listen. God is calling. He’s left you love notes tucked in the pages of your Bible reminding you of what you and he can do together. There are many more to find if you’re willing to look in God’s Word and listen. God speaks to you there.

              When Martin Luther was a student at the University of Erfurt, he found a copy of the Bible in the school library.  As he paged through it, he happened to come across this account from 1 Samuel 3 and read it with great interest. How he wished he could be like Samuel and hear God’s voice. Years later, one of Luther’s greatest discoveries was that on the pages of the Bible God does speak to anyone as he once spoke to Samuel, calling us to his love, a purpose-filled life, and an eternal destiny in heaven. Follow God’s Calling by listening to him speak to you in his Word. God is interested in you and calls for you again and again. He waits for you to answer not saying, “Listen, Lord, your servant is speaking,” but “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”  Amen.

Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (http://www.gracedowntown.org/) on January 18, 2009

Services

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Mondays 6:30 pm

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1209 North Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 | (414) 271-3006

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