Called to obey or obeying the call? (Part 1)

(for Jenny, owing to an epic conversation in an Indian restaurant in Waterloo)

I think one of the most common frustrations I hear from my Christian friends around my age is ‘I just don’t know what God wants with my life’ or some variation on the theme (my particular favourite is ‘I’m waiting for God to tell me what to do’). Indeed I myself have spent many times in prayer and many more times in abject annoyance and floundering inaction asking the same question of my own lifetime. But right from the outset I want to make clear that I think this is a wonderful frustration to have, if indeed any frustration can be wonderful. This frustration says ‘I care so deeply about doing God’s plan for my life’ and ‘there’s only one thing I want to do in life; what God wants me to do’. At its best it says ‘God tell me what to do and I’m you’re vessel’. I think that if more of us had this attitude genuinely at heart then the Church would get a lot more done. However (it was always coming), at worst I do feel us who ask these questions can do ourselves, and sadly often times God’s kingdom, a disservice by paralysing themselves in fear of getting it wrong and believing in a vacuum of guidance. How so? Let me explain.

When we ask the question ‘God, what to do you want me to do in life?’ and then effectively wait, begin to sweat, and then often panic worrying about getting it wrong, to me, are making two key assumptions. Firstly, we assume God hasn’t already told us what to do, and secondly, we assume God is going to clearly and specifically tell us to do something. I suppose the aim of this piece is to suggest that these two assumptions may not be entirely accurate and maybe that if we hold them to the letter we are at risk of not only hurting ourselves with undue worry and concern, but also maybe passing up opportunities lain in front of us to do good things for God’s kingdom.

So, assumption one; has God already given us any indication of what we should do? Anyone on speaking terms with the Old Testament will know that a good chunk of it is dedicated to God’s instruction and laws on how the Israelites should live and how to obey God. Then there are over ten books detailing the clear and important messages that God gave to His people about how they are living and how they should be living and empty space between the two oft big enough to drive a bus through it, badly. Into the New Testament Jesus taught a huge number of things, including many directed to those who wished to follow him. Evidently God is a God of instruction. Not only that but if you are like those British weathermen (who tell us we need more rain and when it comes say ‘sorry, it was the wrong kind of rain because there was too much of it’) then Jesus made it ‘bitesize’ when came and summarised the entire Law and Prophets into two lines:

‘Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."’ Matthew 22.37-40

This is Jesus’ ultimate call to obey. And what context was this answer? ‘Teacher, what is the greatest commandment?’ I think this isn’t far off our original question ‘God, what do you most want me to do with my life?’ It is obvious from this that God isn’t always a micro-manager. In this somewhat sweeping statement, Jesus encompassed the only key instruction that will apply to our entire lives and every moment we live. Therefore I would suggest that if we love God with all our hearts, souls and mind, and loving those around us, we will be doing what God wants in our lives. What does this look like? Well there are hundreds of manifestations, many of which are displayed in the stories of heroes preserved in the Bible, and many in God’s own words through both the Old and New Testament. Whilst this is too many to go into now, I submit that this presents God’s ultimate call to us; the call to obey; the call to love both him and those around us.

So what of the second assumption, ‘God is going to clearly and specifically tell them to do something’. Well firstly I’d argue that, as I have just suggested, He has already said something clear and specific, but on the matter of extra revelation, perhaps a sign of which vocation you are to go into, or where you’re wife is coming from, or which church to join, I would say that those things are by and large the exception and not the rule.

Like all good perspectives, I feel this way because of what I find in the scripture. Two big points to be made here. Firstly from some of the most encouraging parts of scripture; those that speak out God’s loving sovereignty over our lives. The classics include these two:

“For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29.11

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” Romans 8.28

Two wonderful verses! However until recently I took them to mean God has good plans and he’d tell me them. I’m now not so sure about the second part. In the first verse God has just spoken to Jeremiah to tell His people to stop listening to Babylonian prophets and that He was the one who knew what would happen. He was making a special intervention to protect his people, and in doing so he assured them ‘I know the plans I have for you’. As much as I for one would love there to be, there is no assurance of Him telling us those plans! It is ‘just’ (and a ‘just’ is still pretty fantastic) an assurance that He can be trusted. The second verse details a similar line. It is part of a rolling passage of Paul listing the things of God for which we can be sure and confident in, including his working for our good. However Paul again stops short of saying we will know what those good things are, it is an assurance of trust, not a promise of knowledge.

The point in this is not to downplay this promises but rather to qualify them as they are, outworking of faith, or ‘the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see’ (Hebrews 11.1). Things we cannot yet see.

The second point to make from scripture is one that has walked with me since I was a young boy. It takes a child’s mind to ask ‘ok there’s Abraham, and Moses and David, but what about the other thousands of Israelites who lived across that time? What were they doing?’ An interesting question young Phil. Did they too spend time hearing direct revelation from God about their actions and future plans? Nope. God picked Abraham and later Moses to be his communicator, much the same way as the Prophets acted as God’s megaphone during the exiled years and beyond. The Israelites called out to God whilst in Egypt for many years and God spoke only (so far as we are told) to Moses to outwork his plans and for Moses to tell the rest of the Israelites what to do (otherwise know as the Pentateuch!). Indeed later when God speak directly to Joshua as Moses heir, the people rebelled and wouldn’t believe. Evidently God was leading through Joshua and Joshua only.

So, our two assumptions. Has God already given us good instruction about what to do? Yes, to love Him in all we are and to love others with all we do. And will God necessarily give us situation specific directions? No, but He does assure us that He has got good plans for us all.

Are we too often looking for more to do when already so much has been given?

Note: One question that arises however is ‘well what if God does have a specific call to me? How do I understand it?’ I do not wish to deny the importance of this question and I fully believe that God does call specific people to specific things, so I plan to write ‘Called to obey or obeying the call? (Part 2)’ in the near future to look at the answer!