God called Abram to leave his home country
and head to a place that God himself had
chosen. Abram—75 years old at the time—said,
“Ok,” and went. God instructed Jacob to leave
his home, go to Bethel, and build an altar there
to the Lord. Jacob said, “Ok,” and grabbed his
family and went. God spoke to Elijah, giving him
very specific instructions about where to travel
and what to do when he arrived. God did this
more than once with Elijah, in fact. In each
case, Elijah got up and went. In other words,
Elijah said, “Ok.” Over and over again God told
Ezekiel exactly what to do and what to say to
the people of Israel. In each case, Ezekiel
submitted himself to the will of God. He said,
“Ok,” and allowed God to determine his course.
Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord in which the Lord
spoke to him and asked him who might go and
carry the Lord’s message. Isaiah responded,
“Here am I, send me.”
Moses, however, was rather more reluctant
(for what it is worth, Jeremiah demonstrated a
bit of reluctance as well—see Jer. 1:6). In fact,
Moses was flat out unwilling to take the
opportunity God presented him. The call of
Moses is by far the longest and most detailed
call narrative in scripture. Moreover, it is a prime
example of how susceptible the human heart is
to hesitation when God calls us to act—when
God places before us opportunities to follow his
will in addressing the needs of others. Let’s
listen to Moses for a moment: “I’m not equipped
to do this!” “I don’t even know how to answer
people when they ask about you!” “No one will
listen to me or believe me!” “This is not in my
skill set!” “I have a great idea—let’s get
someone else to do it!”
The story of the call of Moses is familiar
to us. It is also terribly convicting. The way
that Moses in his particular circumstance
responded to the call of God is unfortunately
reminiscent of the way in which we
sometimes respond to God’s call in our own
circumstances. God is constantly placing
before us opportunities to follow his will in
addressing the needs of others. Yet often it
seems that instead of saying, “Ok,” and
taking on the task, we decide either to ignore
it or to attempt to pass it on to someone to
whom it was not given. Like Moses, we
invent all sorts of excuses. Let’s listen to
ourselves for a moment: “I’m not equipped to
do this!” “I don’t even know how to answer
people when they ask about you!” “No one
will listen to me or believe me!” “This is not in
my skill set!” “I have a great idea—let’s get
someone else to do it!”
The disciples were far from immune to
this. On more than one occasion they
wanted to avoid whatever ministry task
Jesus was leading them towards at the time.
Most notable is in Mark 6 when the crowd
recognized Jesus and descended on him
and the disciples as they were stealing away
for some private time. The crowd was
hungry, and Jesus was compassionate
towards them. Conversely, the disciples just
wanted the crowd to go away to fend for
themselves. It was in that moment that Jesus
pointedly said to the disciples, “You give
them something to eat.”
Boom.
That’s it, isn’t it? God puts people in our
path. He drops into our hearts situations and
needs. He leads you and me into the lives of
others with the expectation that you and I will
act. Regrettably, we are prone to making
excuses, believing that we are not equipped,
or that we don’t know what to say or do, or
that we are unable to help. Ultimately, we
confess that we’d rather it be someone
else’s job. It is in this moment that Jesus
pointedly says to you and me, “No. You give
them what they need.”
–Ricky
