Find Your Mount Sinai

A Series on God’s Call to Ministry

1 Kings 19:1-18

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2019%3A1-18&version=NIV;NLT

[Preface: How do you know what your calling in life is? Will you know from a big bang experience? Or will it come quietly, almost imperceptible? Will you be inspired by the stories of a visiting missionary; or a book that opens your eyes to the needs of a specific people group; or from your own life experience? This series is about God’s call to ministry for your life; what it means or doesn’t mean.]

The devil is in the details.

As a young, single man, I worked as a painter for several years. Outdoor painting was the worst because it involved scraping off the old paint. Flecks of paint would fly into my eyes; I’d scratch my knuckles on the wood siding; and I would do all this in the heat and humidity of the summer while thirty feet up in the air.

But the details were critical. You had to pay attention to the details to prepare the surface properly in order for the final product to look good. If you didn’t, then somebody would say, “Look, you missed a spot”. The devil is in the details.

Besides house painting, this saying is true in many aspects of life. It’s true in your marriage, your work, your ministry and your faith life. The “details” of life can push back to the point where you want to give up; you want to quit. That’s what happened to Elijah.

Elijah had recently faced off with 450 prophets of Baal in a fire burning contest. He decisively won the contest, and proceeded to have the prophets killed. Queen Jezebel wanted revenge, so she threatened Elijah’s life! He immediately ran away.

⁴ Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”      NLT

Eventually, he went to Mount Sinai; the same place where Moses met the Lord in the burning bush. While there, Elijah hid in a cave and the Lord came to him and spoke to him. Not through the wind or the earthquake or the fire… but through a still small voice.

And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” NLT

Elijah was called to be a prophet of the Lord. He had experienced many miraculous events in his life. And yet, he lost sight of his calling; lost sight of his prophetic purpose; lost sight of the Lord… the devil is in the details.

Actually though, that isn’t true. The truth is, that God is in the details. He has a plan for your life; he’s always at work in your life and he loves you unconditionally. 

So go ahead and find your Mount Sinai. Spend some time alone with the Lord. Let him speak to you in a still small voice. 

Here I Am

A Series on God’s Call to Ministry

Isaiah 6:1-13

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%206&version=NIV;NLT

[Preface: How do you know what your calling in life is? Will you know from a big bang experience? Or will it come quietly, almost imperceptible? Will you be inspired by the stories of a visiting missionary; or a book that opens your eyes to the needs of a specific people group; or from your own life experience? This series is about God’s call to ministry for your life; what it means or doesn’t mean.]

I learned to ride a bicycle by using training wheels. Probably most kids do. But for me, it wasn’t so much a matter of learning to ride, as it was not wanting to take a risk… at anything. I wasn’t a risk taker then, and I’m still not today.

My daughter seems to have inherited this same trait. As a little girl, when her Mother tried to teach her how to ride a bike, she resisted to the point of being forced to learn. She screamed and cried, “I don’t want to do this. Don’t make me do this. I can’t do this”, as she rode her bike up and down the sidewalk… without training wheels.

However, there are some people who are risk takers; Isaiah for instance. His vision of the LORD sitting in his throne in the Temple included six winged angels flying around calling out in a voice so loud that it “shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke”.

That doesn’t sound like a vision to me; it sounds more like a nightmare. Isaiah was so afraid of the Holy LORD Almighty that he called out his own condemnation.

⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”                 NIV

Once his guilt had been removed and his sins forgiven, here’s what happened next.

⁸ Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”

I said, “Here I am. Send me.”        NLT

Isaiah got off his training wheels and took a risk. He volunteered to be the LORD’s messenger to a rebellious people; “a people of unclean lips”. It was then that he learned what an unpopular message he would bring.

⁹ And the Lord said, “Yes, go, and say to this people,

‘Listen carefully, but do not understand.
    Watch closely, but learn nothing.’       NLT

Not everyone is going to take as big a risk as Isaiah did. But, like Isaiah, we need to be ready to take a risk and say to the LORD, “Here I am. Send me”.

Selective Hearing

A Series on God’s Call to Ministry

1 Samuel 3:1-10

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%203%3A1-10&version=NIV;NLT

[Preface: How do you know what your calling in life is? Will you know from a big bang experience? Or will it come quietly, almost imperceptible? Will you be inspired by the stories of a visiting missionary; or a book that opens your eyes to the needs of a specific people group; or from your own life experience? This series is about God’s call to ministry for your life; what it means or doesn’t mean.]

Have you ever been accused of selective hearing?

 I have. My wife accuses me more often than I care to admit. Of course, I like to think of it as being extremely focused. The classic example is when she starts talking to me in the bedroom and then walks down the hall into the kitchen. And I’m accused of selective hearing!

There can be a lot of reasons that people don’t hear or understand a message. For one thing, we’re bombarded every day with so many messages that there’s no way to comprehend them all. But it can also have to do with not listening well, feeling insecure or lacking some foundational knowledge. The list is endless.

⁸ So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy.          NLT

It took three times for the LORD to call Samuel’s name before Eli realized who it was that was speaking to him. On the first two attempts, Samuel and Eli had their own personal reasons for not hearing the LORD.

For one thing, Samuel was just a boy so he probably lacked the maturity to recognize who was calling him. As for Eli, he had been a priest for decades, but had shown a lack of spiritual discernment in dealing with his rebellious sons. Eli was practically blind physically; maybe he was blind spiritually too.

Are you guilty of selective hearing when it comes to recognizing the LORD? 

What drowns out his voice for you? Is it being constantly busy with no quiet time to reflect and rest in His presence? Or maybe it’s an unwillingness to submit or surrender to His will. Is it possible that it’s unrepentant sin in your life?

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”   NIV

Like Samuel, may we be ready to hear the LORD with a servant’s heart, listening intently for His voice.

Are You Chosen or Called?

A Series on God’s Call to Ministry

Deuteronomy 7:6-9

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%207%3A6-9&version=NIV;NLT

[Preface: How do you know what your calling in life is? Will you know from a big bang experience? Or will it come quietly, almost imperceptible? Will you be inspired by the stories of a visiting missionary; or a book that opens your eyes to the needs of a specific people group; or from your own life experience? This series is about God’s call to ministry for your life; what it means or doesn’t mean.]

Choosing sides for a baseball game was pretty much a rite of passage for boys when I was growing up. If you were chosen first, or near the beginning, you felt pretty good about yourself. However, if you were chosen towards the bottom, or especially last, you wished that you could run and hide.

⁶ For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.  NLT

Quite unlike my experience of choosing teams for a pickup baseball game, Israel was chosen, not because it was big and powerful, but because the LORD loved them. In fact, Israel was one of the smallest and weakest of all nations. But the LORD had made a covenant with Abram, and the LORD was faithful.

In my New Living Testament Bible, the preface for Deuteronomy states the following:

“Deuteronomy summarizes the events that led up to that moment in Israel’s history; the eve of Israel’s entry into the Promised Land. Moses exhorted the Israelites to remain faithful and obedient and called them to rededicate their lives to the task God had given them.

Clearly, Israel was not only a chosen nation, but they were also a called nation. They were called to be a “kingdom of priests”. They were called to enter the Promised Land. They were called to be a blessing.

So, are you chosen by God, or called? The answer is yes!

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”             1 Peter 2:9 NIV

 

It feels good to be chosen first for a pickup baseball game. It feels even better to be chosen by the LORD as his own. But the LORD also calls you to action. He calls you to be a priest; holy and obedient. He calls you to be a blessing to others. He calls you to be a light in the darkness.