The Many Ways

When I was just before turning into a high school graduate, I heard a visiting preacher say in his sermon, "If you see a need around you and think you can do something about that need and do nothing, you may be ignoring the call of God on your life."  After returning to the parsonage and while kneeling beside my  bed, i realized those words which got stuck in my heart and mind was a call to preach.  It was something I tried for the better part of that year to get out from under, but no matter how I rationalized what I heard, the call to preach remained.     

Not every preacher hears the call to preach in the manner of some of these Biblical giants.  Abram heard a voice as did  Samuel.  Moses was called through a burning bush.  Isaiah heard his call midst a glorious moment of worship.  Jeremiah heard a word while a boy and Ezekiel seems to be one of those who grew up without ever questioning that He was to serve God.   Unlike these and more like some of us was Esther.  In a moment of great danger for her people, she heard Mordecai challenging her complacency by speaking those memorable words, "Who knows?  Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for such a time as this."  (Esther 4:14)  They were words from which Esther could not escape and so she made the decision to act on these words of calling that came through the man, Mordecai.     

Sometimes the call is missed and sometimes preachers go through their ministry wondering about the validity of their call.  It is likely that in the beginning years of our faith journey, we are not disciplined enough to hear the many ways the voice of God can be spoken.  We often think that our call needs to somehow be like another we know and admire.  The truth is that there is nothing in the creation which is beyond God's ability to use when He desires to speak to us.  And it may also be true for some that the inability to consciously hear is overcome by the Word of God being spoken in a way that is heard by the inner person God is shaping through the power of the Holy Spirit.