If
God said, "Go”, would you know He had?
Would you believe He had? Would
your head scramble with fears and mistrust or would you begin packing your
bags? The missionary is at a loss when
the calling turns inside out and nothing is as it seemed when first she began
to go. Does He still mean "go"
now when the salary is not very good, when the people I work with are
unpleasant and when my family is not happy with the "going"? Israel faced her own "go" and on
many counts she stopped short. Each
Israelite had his or her own reasons for standing like a statue when the Lord
said, "go". Some were like
Lot's wife and looked back rather than ahead.
Others were like David's brothers who didn’t want to have anything to do
with great challenges in front of them. Many,
like John Mark, were fed up with all the troubles they faced on the way. What must God do to make us stay the course,
to get us to push forward when the challenge of going is great? Does He need to caudle us with a hundred
little "answers to prayer" to keep us in line? Must He "give us a word" so we will
be convinced again? "Ah, but I am
not a missionary", we may argue.
What does a "calling" have to do with me? Was Ruth "called" to go with Naomi
to Bethlehem? Was David
"called" to do battle with Goliath?
Was Esau "called" to give up the grudge he had with his
brother? Was Mary Magdalene called to go
to the tomb of Christ Easter morning?
God works through the organic brains of normal human beings and in just
the "regular stuff" of life He makes a creature of divine purpose and
supernatural achievement. A missionary
is simply one who has been given a "go" by God in some operating
system which our Lord uses to get the "go" across to us and in the
going we find our place in the tapestry of our Lord's life with humanity. God has purpose in your life and that purpose
is heroic in how you react to the "go" He gives you. The very first "go" we receive is
the one to, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit". (Acts 2:38
NIV) Once you have the gift of the Holy
Spirit, you will know when to go and when to stay and your life will be a light
that shines in golden brilliance the majesty and grace of Christ living through
you wherever you have been taken.
But Moses said to God, "Who am I that
I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" And God said, "I will be with you…" Exodus 3:11-12 NIV
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