So let’s get out our bibles and have some fun here.
If you’re anything like me, which I guarantee you’re not, your big question might be, “God, why on earth did you put me here?”
It’s a good question. It’s something we struggle with nearly every day. In 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 we read that God has appointed people to a bunch of different of different positions.
God continues to appoint people to these positions. But it isn’t something new. Throughout the bible there are scads of people who have been appointed to various areas of responsibility. What can be especially surprising is who God uses, where they came from, and even their reactions to being called.
So come along and let’s have a look at some of the more legendary people that God called for his ministry.
Paul
Notorious for being the Christian killing bad guy, Paul is one of the most influential writers of the New Testament.
Acts 9 tells the story of how Paul came to be in service.
Notice anything? Ya, Paul is a pretty bad guy when he starts out. He doesn’t have a miraculous epiphany AND THEN God calls him. No, Paul (Saul here) is a sinful, killing machine. And that’s exactly when God comes to him; when he is at his very worst.
God brings about this amazing light from heaven that completely surrounds him and utterly shocks him. Now this isn’t just your average 100watt bulb, this is the most terrifying and awe-inspiring light that you can imagine.
And how does Paul react? Well, he doesn’t really, does he? But through his silence we see a lot (a little bit of a pun there, can’t help it!) He only says one thing while in the presence of Christ, but in that he acknowledges that this is the Lord. Seems trivial, but for someone who was making his livelihood killing people for this same belief, it says a lot.
Now we’ve got Saul. He’s had the eyes of his heart opened (if you’re in need of some mood music, click here) but the eyes of his face were closed quite tightly. This makes complete sense, if you want someone to serve you then the only logical thing to do is to make it 20% more difficult for them to do so.
Ok, now let’s take some time to pray about this…
How many of you got your hands all folded to pray and closed your eyes in preparation? Why?
I teach Sunday School. If I want the kids to pay attention to the words that we’re praying I want to make sure that their hands are kept to themselves and that they aren’t distracted by trying to hit the kid next to them. So the hands are folded. There are a bunch of colourful posters and interesting things that we’ll be doing later set out on the table that attract a lot of attention, so the eyes are closed. With hands out of action and eyes closed to the ten hundred distractions that are around the words of the prayer are given much more attention than they may have been otherwise.
With our eyes closed, our hands tied up (so to speak) we are unable to do anything else. We are concentrated solely on the words of God. The dishes have to wait. The work that we brought home can’t be finished without the use of our hand and eyes. Everything else that we would make into a priority ceases and God is now the centre of our attention.
What about Paul? The very second that we see him being confronted by the call of God he loses his sight. His concentration is solely on Jesus. He can’t see to carry on with his primary mission. He can’t continue on with the work that he’s brought with him. Right then and there the only thing that he is focused on is the work of Christ and the way that will impact his future. Not only that but he is now dependant on the very people that he was off to murder. That’s a big change in events! Right then as his physical eyes are closed, everything else is wide open to the plans that God has. He has left the life where he is dependent only upon his own self and he is now realizing that in order to truly serve God, to spread the message of Christ he has to let go of what he had worked for and take hold of what God had in place for him, whether good or bad.
And this is where we leave off. Saul is Paul. He is suffering physically and is blossoming spiritually. He has accepted God’s call without saying a word. His actions say more than his words ever could.
Isaiah
Let’s backtrack a bit here and go back into the Old Testament. Flip your bibles open right near the middle at Isaiah 6. Isaiah amazes me with his courage and humility while in the face of God.
Put yourself in Isaiah’s shoes…err, sandals? You are face to face with a mystical creature, a being unlike anything you have ever seen. You aren’t really sure how you know this, but you know that this is a holy creature. Maybe it’s the way that it continually praises God. You’re standing there, seraphim in front of you praising the name of God, and you realize you’re looking right at God. You stop in complete and utter fear because you are thinking back to what is written in the Torah that any man who sees the face of God is a goner (Exodus 33:20).
Before God can even lay out what he has in store for Isaiah he is a trembling, fearful man. He tells God about how sinful he is, how unclean he is and ho he does not deserve to be in the presence of God. Sounds rather like another person that we heard about who was called to God’s service.
God looked at Isaiah and said “You’re absolutely right. You are a dreadful, horrible man and you deserve death for being in my presence.” That would make a pretty crappy story. He knew that Isaiah was not good enough on his own to serve Him. He knew that Isaiah was unclean and would always be unclean if left to his own devices. Rather than leave him in his sinful state he took matters into his own hands. The unclean lips of which Isaiah complained were made clean. Verse 7 says that “[Isaiah’s] guilt is taken away and [his] sin atoned for.” God made sure that Isaiah wouldn’t be sent out dependent only upon himself. He prepared him for what needed to be done.
And God gives him quite a responsibility. The message that Isaiah is sent to proclaim is not a happy one. It is an ominous message that proclaims to God’s chosen people that their path is not looking so good. The way that they are traveling is one based on the understanding of a prideful, narrow minded people. They are not following the promise of God. They are not obeying the message that God has given for them. The future is looking bleak as God’s chosen people choose to ignore the message that has been given to them. But even in the midst of Isaiah’s message of potential doom and gloom we see a small glimmering of hope. We see God’s promise that even in the midst of death there is the promise of life. Even though the decisions of His people have utterly destroyed them, God himself is providing them with a new and great opportunity (read more about God’s promise in Isaiah 11).
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