Are We Sleeping—OR—Answering the Calling?
Have you ever been called upon to do something? Consider that question. Return possibly to the time when you sat in a classroom, the instructor was teaching, the room was quiet except for the voice of the one teaching. Then there’s a pause after a question is voiced, a heartbeat of seconds: ONE—TWO—THREE—FOUR—FIVE—SIX—SEVEN seconds beat by as the instructor waits for the question voiced to take root. Then the calling comes.
- Maybe you are called to raise your hand.
- Maybe you are called to write your answer on paper.
- Maybe you are called to voice out in unison the answer.
- Maybe you are called to rise to your feet, to stand, to move.
Despite the action you are called to perform, before anything can be accomplished, there first must be a ‘CALLING.’
The same applies to OUR FATHER.
Pause with me to read about a young man named Samuel who was called while he slept in the temple.
“Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.
It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well),
and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was.
that the LORD called Samuel; and he said,
‘Here I am.”
Then he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’
But he said [Eli said to Samuel]
“I did not call, lie down again.’ So he went and lay down.
The LORD called yet again, ‘Samuel!’
. . .
[The LORD called out to Samuel. Each time the calling came, Samuel was sleeping in the temple, and each time Samuel heard the calling, he ran to the priest Eli, knowing it had to be the elderly Eli calling out to him.]
“Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor had the word of the LORD yet been revealed to him.”
(1 Samuel 3: 1-6a & 7 NASB)
There are some truths we can garner from this passage—
- Samuel was working for the LORD, faithfully caring for the elderly priest Eli even before Samuel knew the LORD as his Savior.
- Visions & Callings come from the LORD.
- In the midst of the night, while the darkness permeated—the LORD called.
- Immediately & maybe even while a bit confused, Samuel ran toward what made most sense; Samuel ran to where the priest of God lay sleeping & indicated that he (Samuel) was ready to do whatever the priest needed him to do.
When the LORD calls out to us, we may become confused and only run toward what makes sense.
- Could it be that the lost run toward Christians because of the relationship we have already established with them?
- Could it be that the lost have been entrusted to us by the LORD so that we can point them toward the Savior Jesus Christ?
- Truly, could it be that we have received the commission to lead others to know Jesus as Lord?
Could it be?
- Truly, we, the redeemed of the LORD, have a high calling to perform; we must not sleep away our time on earth.
Eli recognized how the LORD was calling out to Samuel.
Eli discerned how the LORD was calling out to Samuel for service.
So, Eli pointed Samuel in the right direction & told Samuel exactly how to respond.
“So the LORD called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.”
Then Eli discerned that the LORD was calling the boy.
And Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say,
‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.’ “
So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
Then the LORD came and stood and called as at other times,
‘Samuel! Samuel!’
And Samuel said,
‘Speak, for Your servant is listening.”
(1 Samuel 3: 8-10 NASB)
The devil fills the minds of the lost with all kinds of distraction and doubt, hoping that they never hear the LORD’S calling. The devil deceives a person for many years, and even for an entire lifetime sometimes, giving a person troubling dreams, troubling thoughts, and anxiety-filled days & nights. The devil’s goal is to keep a lost person wandering in darkness.
Enter the Christian who walks into a lost person’s life. Maybe it’s a meeting we never planned, but God did because in His providence, He orchestrated this meeting from the beginning of time.
To the Christian—
When these opportunities come to us (the Christ-followers)—Are We Sleeping—OR—Are We Answering the Calling to Share Jesus?
To the Lost Person—
When these opportunities come to us (those still wandering in lostness)—Are We Sleeping—OR—Are We Answering the Calling to Receive Jesus?
The apostle Paul wrote to the young man Timothy—
“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
(The Second Letter of Paul to Timothy 2: 1-2 NASB)
The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
The LORD never intended our calling to salvation to end with us.
NO.
The LORD expects us to be faithful to what HE HAS CALLED US TO!
May we be found faithful to ALMIGHTY FATHER GOD!