The Call (part 1)



"For many are called, but few are chosen."
Matthew 22:14

"God's call for your life". As a new Christian, I heard that phrase numerous times and never quite understood exactly what it meant. It always seemed to me that those who believed they had a "call" from the LORD started some church, some ministry or went on some mission in a far away land. I don't believe there's anything wrong with doing that, mind you. However, I was somewhat insecure because there was nothing in me that wanted to do either of those things with my life. How often do you hear about the LORD calling someone to be a web site designer, or a fireman, or a biologist: something that has nothing to do with evangelism? If you have heard of it, I certainly had not...for the majority of my Christian life. I began to wonder: is that all the LORD ever calls anyone to?

In this topic, which may end up being two or three posts altogether, I'm going to dig deeper into the subject of what it means to have a call on your life from the LORD, because I believe we are all called. More than that, we're not all called to do the same thing in the same way. In short, you can breathe easily because being called by the LORD doesn't mean you have to become Mother Theresa of Calcutta.

What is "The Call"?

I believe that, in the big picture, the LORD calls each and every one of us for two purposes: To show us (personally) that He is Lord and to show a desperate and lost world that He is Lord, through His accomplishments in us. That idea hit home to me reading the journey of the Exodus: where the early Israelities left bondage in Egypt and started to the promised land beyond the Jordan river. It hit home because of the number of times the LORD said those exact words throughout the ordeal. Before the plagues began, the LORD clearly explained his purpose:


Exodus 6:7
"And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians."   "I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians."

Then in Chapter 7, before Moses is sent to Pharaoh a second time, the LORD shows that He wants, not only Moses and all Israel to know He is God, but He wanted to show the Egyptians just who was who as well:


Exodus 7:5
"And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them."   "And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it."

From that moment on, before each of the plagues, the LORD instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh why each of these things were occurring and almost always ending with: "so you may know that I am the LORD" ( Exodus 8:22; 9:14,16,29, 10:2, 11:7, 14:17-18). That's at least eight times out of ten plagues If He says it that many times, it must be important business. However, it didn't stop in Egypt either. All during the journey through the desert, any miracle that happened, the LORD was sure to have Moses tell Israel that it was occuring so that Israel may know He is God.

To that end, it's important to notice the escalation of the plagues the LORD performed before the Hebrews set out for the promised land. The first miracle, turning the staff into a serpent, Pharaoh's magicians could do as well:


Exodus 7:11
Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.   Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts:

I often liken that to modern day science, psychology and reasoning: it may seem like a nifty trick, but it can be easily and rationally explained away or reproduced by other means. The first three of the plagues the LORD performed, Pharoah's "science" could reproduce (Exodus 7:22; 8:7). Once it came to the plague of insects (Exodus 8:16), science and sorcery failed to reproduce the same results and on top of that, the insects where everywhere but in Goshen, where the Hebrews lived.

Okay, that's not so easy to explain away.

From then on, each plague increased in complexity and continually distinguished the Israelites from the Egyptians, making it even harder to explain by any rational means until finally, something so awesome happened that the only explanation left was, The LORD is God: it was beyond any reasonable doubt in any Hebrew or Egyptian mind. So effective was the LORD's plagues, the story of it was well engrained into the minds of the Philistines two centuries later and hundres of miles away:


1 Samuel 6:6
Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully F28 among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?   Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When he treated them harshly, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?

I believe the LORD replays this scenario out in the life of every believer and that is core of our call: to show through our lives, something so magnanimous, the only possible explanation to ourselves and all those watching is, The LORD is God. Can that only be accomplished by evangelism? Not at all. That can be accomplished in any walk of life, no matter what you do for a living. It can be done without a bumper sticker, a fish pin and a T-shirt. Recently, I heard of a Christian financial investments company who run their corporation exclusively on Biblical principals. They're so successful, they are routinely investigated by authorities who assume they must be doing something illegal to be that successful! The company has not one penny of debt and consistently outperforms their competitors. To be that successful, without debt and without breaking even the slightest infraction of the law --- it's unheard of in this day and age.

The ironic part to this tale, is the conversation came to me from a non-believer, while I was minding my own business trying to fix a broken computer network. This company had obviously impressed this man so much, I could tell he was truly re-thinking this whole "God" stuff. That is the kind of testimony we, as believers, can have. I believe that is our calling.