Have I Skipped a Page?

For some people, experiencing God’s call is like discovering their destiny. Somehow they just seem to know what they are meant to do with their lives.

My wife has always had that kind of vocational clarity. Since early in high school she knew that she wanted to be an art teacher. She may not have used the language of “call” in her teenage years, but she was clearly drawn to the work. Even before she received her formal training in college, she spent her summers helping children express their creativity by running the arts program at a day camp that the township sponsored in her home town.

She is like a kid magnet in the art room! When I stop in at her classroom during open house, I can see the excitement in the eyes of her students as they proudly parade their parents into the art room to show off their art work on display. She has the gifts to be a really great art teacher, and when difficult issues of school policy or administrative matters require her attention, her decisions are always guided by her own inner sense of call.

The prophet Jeremiah’s call story has that kind of clarity to it. Even in the face of intense criticism and persecution, he knew that he was fulfilling his destiny: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5).”

Me Too?

I can’t honestly say that I always have that kind of clarity about my own vocational calling. Sometimes when I read the words of Psalm 139, “In your book were written all the days that were formed for me…” I find myself worrying that I may have inadvertently skipped a page or two somewhere. I don’t always feel confident that I’m on the right page with God. Sometimes I feel pretty clueless about what I’m supposed to be doing with my life.

But every once in a while I find myself in particular situations when I know that I am exactly where I need to be and doing exactly what I was meant to be doing. Even though they are often highly stressful and emotionally painful situations, I experience a quiet sense of inner calm in those circumstances. I am focused, confident, and certain that God is working through me to touch the lives of others.

In the Moment

As a pastor, sometimes that happens when I am leading memorial celebrations for families who are grieving the loss of loved ones. Sometimes it happens on Sunday mornings when I know that God has given me a word to share and I can’t wait to get up and tell everyone the Good News. Sometimes it happens when someone who is fragile and tottering on the edge of despair comes to me for counseling hoping that I can help to facilitate their healing.

There are some circumstances when I am certain that God is working through me to touch the lives of others. Those are wonderful moments when God’s call in my life seems crystal clear. But they never last very long.

Instead of the persistent call of the prophet Jeremiah, my experiences of call more closely resemble the kind of stories we read in the Old Testament book of Judges where individuals feel called to step forward and intercede in the particular circumstances that arise and then fade back into obscurity.

I don’t think one experience of call is more authentic than the other. In fact they may simply be different intensity levels of the same phenomenon. But Jeremiah teaches us to be attentive to that steady and persistent vocational calling that gives order and purpose to our lives while the stories of the Judges teach us to be responsive to the daily opportunities for ministry that arise out of the unique circumstances of our lives.

Conversation starters for small group discussion:

1.What clarity do you have about your own vocational calling at this point in your life?
2.How is your sense of God’s call being shaped by the particular circumstances of your life today?