We often throw around the term called. God called me to go to _______ or start ________. We seem to believe that we must know what that calling is or we will miss what God has for us to do. But not everyone in scripture is called. When they are, it's REALLY obvious:
Moses was called to lead Israel out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:1-21)
Gideon was called to be a mighty warrior. (Judges 6:11-27)
David was called to be king of Israel. (1 Samuel 16:1-13)
Saul was called to be an Apostle to the gentiles. (Acts 9:1-18)
Note that none of their journeys was easy, the paths they took were hard, full of trials and didn't travel in a straight line. But the end result was never in question. When Jonah was called to Nineveh and didn't want to go (Jonah 1:1-6) God saw to it he went anyway (Jonah 1:17-3:5). My point is, to be consistent with scripture a call must be something that is not subjective: i.e. a dream, vision, or angel clearly telling me what is going to happen; and then it does. Can that happen today? Sure. And we are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). But I doubt that's what most of us mean when we say we are called.
So what does that mean for those of us who have yet to have such a clarifying moment of revelation? Are we supposed to keep waiting and praying for our Post-It, paralyzed by the fear that we will chose the wrong path? I don't think so. In fact, its just the opposite. We are liberated by faith in God's sovereign control to be compelled by the Holy Spirit. Many people in Scripture are compelled rather than called:
Nehemiah was compelled to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 1:1-2:8)
Jonathan was compelled to battle the Philistines. (1 Samuel 14:1-15)
David was compelled to strike down Goliath, who defied God's armies. (1 Samuel 17:33-37)
Acts 20:22 tells us Paul was "constrained (compelled) by the Spirit" to go to Jerusalem even though he didn't know what would happen there (except that it would generally not go well) Thats the point. When someone is called the outcome is revealed and there is an expectation of success as the world defines success. But when someone is compelled there is no guarantee that things will work out the way they are "supposed to" and that is O.K. Even when someone is called it doesn't always go the way we think it should, it didn't for:
Steven when he was stoned. (Acts 7:54-60)
Hosea who was asked to be a painful picture of God's patience. (Hosea 1:1-3)
John the Baptizer when he was beheaded. (Matthew 14:1-12)When we seek God and are compelled by the Spirit of God and we obey we are forced to accept God's sovereignty and trust that He is in control even when we don't get the results we expected (Acts 1:7).
The truth is we already have a Post-It note telling us what God wants us to do, 95% of God's will is written in black and white in His word (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Our problem is we generally ignore it, or at least the parts we don't like, while falsely claiming we are willing to do what ever God want us to do. If we start with that 95% and seek God we can be compelled by the Spirit rather than compelled by our fear of the unknown and leave the results in God's hands.
I'll end with two questions:
If you have been called to be a follower of Jesus (Romans 8:29-30), if not then you need to start with that (1Corinthians 15:1-28), what are you compelled by the Spirit to do?
and
Why aren't you doing it?
