Thursday: Our Responsibility
If we are called by God, we still have free choice in accepting or rejecting that call, just as we have free choice in accepting or rejecting the salvation that He offers us all. He may place us in a particular position, but we can choose not to follow His biddings. Yes, He wants us to do specific things for Him, just as much as He calls us to become like Him.
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God’s election to a specific task is part of His plan for our salvation. By doing what He calls us to do, we reveal in our lives the reality of the salvation He has given us.
King Saul was given the position of king. Unfortunately, Saul never fully gave his heart to God, despite the task he was given. Just because someone is called by God to do something special for Him doesn’t mean that this person will embrace God. Our free will remains the determining factor, and if we don’t follow God’s leading, we can lose everything.
Read Exod. 3:1-22, NKJV and Exod. 4:1-31, NKJV. What does this teach us about what happens when the Lord calls someone for a task?
Our response can be like that of Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s, who went without questioning, or we can be like Moses, who had objections and excuses. Moses went in the end, but not without trying to get out of it. He objected, claiming that he was not good enough, a nobody, and didn’t have an important position. So how could Pharaoh possibly listen to him? He was also worried that the Jewish people would not believe him or listen to him, and the work would be for naught. Additionally, he complained that he was not qualified-“I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (Exod. 4:10, NKJV)-and didn’t have the needed skills. Lastly, he pointedly asked God to send someone else. And yet, as we read the story of Moses, we learn what a powerful, though flawed, leader Moses became. He was someone who faithfully did the task that the Lord had called him to do.
| What excuses do we often find that keep us from doing the things we know the Lord would have us do? |
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I think that one of the problems we have when we thing about God's leading is that we expect something spectacular. We think of God as being supernatural and therefore, by inference we expect his leading to be something extraordinary. I have to remind myself that God is master of the "ordinary" too and sometimes he gives us just "ordinary" tasks to do.
I look back over my own career of 43 years and I freely admit that my career is not spectacular. I don't feel inclined to write a book about it as inspiration for others. I have not set the world on fire. Even my PhD thesis is the sort that about 3 people (my examiners) have read right through, and probably about 30 people would really understand what I have written. It is not a best seller, and the its main purpose was allowing me to keep my job. My life as simply been a string of fairly ordinary events that I look back on and have the satisfaction that God has allowed me to do what I really want to.
My great grandmother is buried in the church yard of Flaxton, a small village in Yorkshire England. Her epitaph reads, "She hath done what she could". And perhaps with God's leading that is what He expects us to do. No outstanding earth shattering success, just persistent consistent witness to the love that Jesus has given us.
I started this study of Ezra and Nehemiah with the reminder that the bricklayers and stonemasons were the heros of their story. They did not have a book of the Bible named after them, but they followed God's leading through his earthly leaders and "they did what they could".
Dear Maurice,
Thank you for that comment. Part of your mentioned Bible verse, "She hath done what she could" seems to be a common thought among Christians. I have stored that idea in my mind and it has kept me going many a day.
Hi, from the lesson "Our response can be like that of Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s, who went without questioning,...". Reading about Ezra and Nehemiah, I can't find that God specifically called them, like the comparison is made with Moses. Ezra had a passion to do things for God, was that his 'calling'? The same with Nehemiah, he heard bad news about the restoration, felt sad about it, and thought he could do something. Was his thought God's calling? And again, is this comparable to Moses' calling as the lesson calls for?
I hear what you are saying Derek. I think there is a perception that a call from God is something that knocks you off your donkey, but often God uses a far more subtle approach. Sometimes it is something as simple as a suggestion from a friend. If we are waiting for a "Damascus-type" call we may well be disappointed.
Who *chose* Saul? God didn’t!
“Since the day that I brought My people from the land of Egypt, I did NOT choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man for a leader over My people Israel; but I have chosen Jerusalem that My name might be there, and I have CHOSEN David to be over My people Israel.” (2 Chron 6:5,6).
Moses prophesied that Israel would ask for a king and advised that the king should be one whom “the Lord your God chooses”. (Dt 17:14,15). Samuel emphasized that Israel had “chosen for yourselves” a king. (1 Sam 8:18-22; 12:1). God told Samuel: “Listen to their voice and appoint them a king.” (1 Sam 8:22).
God eventually chose a man “after His own heart” who would do all His will (1 Sam 13:14). David was God’s choice, fulfilling Moses’ prophecy. It was not that David had a heart like God’s
Kenny, God did tell Samuel to anoint Saul as king.
“Now the Lord had told Samuel the previous day, “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him to be the leader of my people, Israel. He will rescue them from the Philistines, for I have looked down on my people in mercy and have heard their cry.” When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said, “That’s the man I told you about! He will rule my people.””
1 Samuel 9:15-17 NLT
https://www.bible.com/116/1sa.9.15-17.nlt
Absolutely, all the stories I have read in the Bible show God chose those that turned to Him, and rely on Him. As pointed out by someone earlier this week He has chosen all. The chosen are they who respond to His call. Even Saul as he lay stunned by the bright light and by Christ talking to him, made the decision to turn to Christ, albeit rather rapidly. It was not a knee jerk decision, neither a cohered decision, from what I understand, all of his past experiences flashed before him, helping him make his decision, and he stuck with it.
Moses raised up with the promise of being the deliverer of Israel.
Moses in the palace must have thought Perfect place, perfect position to lead an army.
Moses thought, I will begin a revolution against Egypt and lead the people out of Egypt.
When he murdered the Egyptian his thoughts were the Israelites would rally behind him only to find out his own people turned against him.
Depressed, lonely Moses fled to the wilderness.
After 40 years when God called him to lead the people, He remembered how he was rejected by the people of Israel.
He asks one of the famous question who am I (to lead the people of Israel)?
Now, Moses was in the perfect place to lead the people of Israel.
When he was somebody, God could not use him for his mission.
When he acknowledged, he was nobody, now God can make of him somebody.
Are you willing to let go of who you are so you can become somebody in Christ?
The lesson is very sweety... You guys you make me worth for my Maker's call... Holy Spirit to guide us to live our salvation now and work while it is day... You are doing a great work guys @Brogher Maurice Ashton, Newbegin Devaraj, William Earnhardt, just to mention a few... God bless you now and forever(few words with a mighty meaning for God is mighty than the waves of the sea!)