When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” (Exodus 3:4, NIV)
Who does the calling when you play golf? If the game for you is all about the companionship, somebody does the calling: “Are we getting out this weekend? Who’s in? Where are we playing?”
Golf can be played without a caller. But when it is, you’re usually playing alone.
In the same way, it is possible in life to pursue “a calling” without a transcendent caller. You can find a passion or a cause, a beneficiary or a benchmark, and you can chase that calling all of your days. You can have significant impact on the world as it is and maybe even the world as it will be. And you can get to the end of your earthly course and say to yourself, “I made something of this life. Yes, I did.” We cannot deny or begrudge the satisfaction in that kind of living. It sure beats confused or purposeless living.
And yet, if there really is a God, and if he really orders the trajectory of the universe and the patterns of people (Acts 17:26), how much grander it would be to play in his game rather than in a game of our own!
When God called to Moses from the burning bush, the prince-turned-shepherd wasn’t so sure he liked the idea. But it was too late. He had been called by the holy God: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” Moses trembled and hid his face.
Perhaps it is because we are like Moses—afraid, if the truth be known, to be called by the one so eminent—that we come up with “callings” outside of the call of a caller. We find something we like, something that gives us a measure of gratification (and perhaps a few accolades, too), and we go after it. We call it our calling and thus stamp it with nobility in a culture where so many just live for the next Hollywood release or weekend cruise.
It is true. Once God called him, Moses could never escape, no matter how hard he tried to wiggle out of what God had for him to do. But Moses also had this assurance: his work was being done in the courts of God, not the wilderness outside the Promised Land. What he was doing would last. He was not “chasing after wind” or “toiling in vanity” (see Ecclesiastes). He was doing the everlasting work of God—however demanding, however dangerous.
Do we dare to follow such a course?
—
Jeff Hopper
February 11, 2013
Copyright 2013 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
OTHER DEVOTIONS IN THE CALLING SERIES
Calling, Part 1: Identity First
Calling, Part 2: Response and Readiness
Calling, Part 3: Is It God?
Calling, Part 5: Your Specific Destiny
Calling, Part 6: Sovereignty and Calling
Calling, Part 7: Looking Forward, Looking Back
Calling, Part 8: God’s Confirmation, Our Confidence
Calling, Part 9: Aliens and Ambassadors
Calling, Part 10: Excellence in Our Calling
Calling, Part 11: Balance in Our Calling