“Called By God”
I read this in Chambers this morning - it was a hard reminder of the reality that God has called all of us to His work… hard in the sense that my pride and my own desires would prefer to remain in my own comfort zone, rather than stepping out and making myself vulnerable for the Lord. God has called the many… and as Chambers pointed out, I need to stop waiting for God to plead with me or point out the way for me with irresistable pressure and inspiration.
The way is marked… “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
Called By God
I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ’Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ’Here am I! Send me’ —Isaiah 6:8
God did not direct His call to Isaiah— Isaiah overheard God saying, “. . . who will go for Us?” The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude. “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).
That is, few prove that they are the chosen ones. The chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and have had their spiritual condition changed and their ears opened. Then they hear “the voice of the Lord” continually asking, “. . . who will go for Us?” However, God doesn’t single out someone and say, “Now, you go.” He did not force His will on Isaiah. Isaiah was in the presence of God, and he overheard the call. His response, performed in complete freedom, could only be to say, “Here am I! Send me.”
Remove the thought from your mind of expecting God to come to force you or to plead with you. When our Lord called His disciples, He did it without irresistible pressure from the outside. The quiet, yet passionate, insistence of His “Follow Me” was spoken to men whose every sense was receptive (Matthew 4:19). If we will allow the Holy Spirit to bring us face to face with God, we too will hear what Isaiah heard-”the voice of the Lord.” In perfect freedom we too will say, “Here am I! Send me.”
By Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
Published on 14 Jan 2008 at 12:38 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under Quotes/Readings, Thoughts.
Who is more guilty than me of hearing the Word without doing? (James 1:22-25) I like this blog entry because it’s a much needed reminder (especially in a predominantly “Reformed” circle like ours) that what we do MATTERS. Salvation isn’t a ticket to a carefree self-indulgent life, it’s a commission to life bent towards the glory of an infinitely sovereign Lord. We have no more logical or more reasonable purpose!
While I am ever so thankful that God does not wait for me to cry out to him for salvation–if that were the case we’d all be royally STUCK in our natural selfishness–I am certainly grateful for the freedom he imparts to us that enables us in adoration to give back to him the little bit of ourselves that we have.
Jeremy Smith on 15 Jan 2008 at 12:20 am.