Sabbath: God’s Call
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Read for This Week’s Study: Ezra 7:10; Neh. 1:1-11; Dan. 9:24-27; Daniel 8:1-27; Rom. 8:28-29; Romans 9:1-33; Exodus 3:1-4:31.
Memory Text: “Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 7:27, NKJV).
Does God call each person to a specific task? Are there criteria that make someone more qualified than others for a certain task? Are those criteria different in human eyes than in God’s? Most of us would probably say yes, especially to the last two questions. There are times when God prepares us, through education or experiences, for a specific task; at other times, He chooses us to serve simply because we are willing and humble. It’s not always easy to know, though, what God’s call is in our lives is it? Nevertheless, the Bible is full of stories of people whom God chose for a particular assignment.
Interestingly, Ezra and Nehemiah were called for a specific task by God: to rebuild what lay in ruins. However, rebuilding in this case involved various tasks. They were to lead the people of Israel back to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple and the city. At the same time, they were to teach the people about God and above all guide them back to a committed relationship with Him. Talk about a calling from God, and an important one, too.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 19.
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When you are old and retired like me you look back on life and wonder what you have achieved. I have not built a great building or created some bright new idea. I have simply gone through life, interacting with people that have come into my spare of influence. Someone once remarked that we are typically only remembered for three generations. In terms of human existence, that is not very long.
It is important for us to remember that God does not expect us to do something big. Salvation is not about achieving but about living. And some of our best spiritual influence is about the little things we do along the way.
I taught computer programming for about 30 years. Most of what I taught in those 30 years is no longer relevant. Who writes programs in COBOL or FORTRAN now. Technology changes rapidly and our methods of controlling and developing technology changes with it. Does that mean that all my teaching was in vain? Hopefully the real substance that I taught my students was the skill to adapt to rapidly changing technology. If my students were still using the programming tools I taught them they would no longer be able to get a job.
God calls us to do little tasks. A minister was trying to impress us with the idea that none of us are irreplaceable. He asked the question; "When you pull you hand out of a bucket of water, is there a hole left behind?" It was a good illustration but my scientific mind went one step further and I thought, "He is right, but the water should have been made just a little bit warmer from my hand being there."
We may not set the world on fire but we can leave the world a little bit warmer from us living here. Matt 5:13 talks about subtle influence:
That may be all God wants us to be.
There are many examples of God calling an individual to a very particular task–Abraham, Moses, Gideon, and the Apostles.
When Jesus called James and John he specifically tells them, they would become fishers of men.
In the New Testament church the Spirit gives gifts to use in God's service.
God has given each one of us a unique gift that can only be fulfilled by you.
My wife has the gift of hospitality. She loves to cook and entertain guests.
She has a unique way of discerning the need of the people.
I love to study the scripture and be in depth with the word.
We complement each other with our unique gifts and we need each other for our spiritual walk.
We join hands together to become mature followers of Christ.
Being called and being sent by the Holy Spirit.
As we study the Bible, there are instances were God equipped people then call them, in some other cases he called people then equipped them for service. He definitely decides what is best for the person.
As we look at/study spiritual gifts and talents we realized that all functioning humans were given a talent but not all humans were given a spiritual gift.
Jesus knows who to give what, and who to call to do what. That’s his his call. E.g when he told Moses about building the tabernacle he said who specifically were to be the Priest. Who should blow the trumpets, and who to do what.
Bezaleel and Aholiab was chosen specifically to do a specific work. But is God still working like that in 2019?
1 Corinthians 12:
4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
6There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, a and to still another the interpretation of tongues. b 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.