Circumstances can be challenging, and we can hear the call of God in
it.
Some of you might remember the 2004 movie Cellular, in which someone
kidnaps a woman, but she manages to use a broken telephone to call for help and
reaches a total stranger. She begs him for help, hoping he will not hang up.
Well, the movie has many action sequences along the way, but eventually Ryan
rescues Jessica. She thanks him and asks him if there is anything she can do to
repay him. At that point, the two are attractive enough that you think a hint
of romance is coming next. He responds, “Yes, don’t ever call me again.”
Receiving a call can be difficult.
Most of us do not have circumstances
as difficult as was the man in the movie. However, we have our difficult
circumstances to face.
In Hamlet, the play by Shakespeare, Hamlet experiences hesitation in a
challenging call.
The times are out of joint
oh cursed spite
that ever I was born to put them right.
Yet, out of such difficult
circumstances, we may well experience a summons. In that case, we are no so
much looking deep inside. We listen to the people and circumstances that are
part of our lives. We respond to what we hear if we are attentive.
I was in college, wrestling with what I was to do with my life. I knew I
enjoyed studying and learning. What was I going to do with what I enjoyed? At a
church service, I felt the tug in my heart that God wanted me to devote myself
to what in 1970 we called “full-time Christian service.”
Some of us run away from the call. Dallas
Willard put it:
Our failure to hear his voice when we
want to is due to the fact that we do not in general want to hear it, that we
want it only when we think we need it.[1]
Running away will have harmful effects in the way we lead
our lives. To run away from the call will also mean running away from that
which will provide deep satisfaction in life. Some of us need to ponder the
witness to our lives that we desire. What do want family and friends to say
about us when we leave this earth and receive a new life with God?
Some of us need to cut through some
misconceptions. Dan Cumberland[2]
identifies three myths to avoid when trying to discern God's call:
Myth 1: Your calling is a job
-- Your calling is larger than a job,
for the calling provides a direction and impact to your entire life. You will
express your calling in your job, but in other parts of your life as well.
Myth 2: Your calling is somewhere out there;
you just have to find it
-- Your calling is somewhere out there,
which is the partial truth in this myth, but you have to be attentive to what
is “out there.” We need to be attentive to the people and circumstances of our
lives. We will hear the summons “out there” if we listen to our hearts. It is
not in the wind, the fire or the earthquake. It is in a still small and
familiar voice.
Myth 3: Your calling is a place of
obligation
-- "Your calling and life's work
are places of freedom. God has a reason for you to be here, so your calling
will be life giving.
The call that we hear may actually
bring some difficulty into our lives. It may well push us to our limits and
beyond. For that reason, we may well want to run away. Of course, calling moves
us beyond a job and a sense of obligation. It moves us toward deep
satisfaction, as we are attentive the people and circumstances of our lives,
listening and responding at a deep level.
[2] --Dan
Cumberland, "3 big myths about calling: Ideas to avoid when figuring out
what to do with your life." Relevant, April 14, 2015.
relevantmagazine.com. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
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