I remember the calling of Isaiah – he thought he was doomed..
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” – Isaiah 6:1-8 ESV
One thing about callings – does it seem that God chooses the least expected ones? What a blessing to know that no one is beyond the reach of God’s call, no one is too sinful to do God’s work. Just this thought alone keeps me going deep, and yet keep small. It allows me to work to build up the church, the people of God. I can express love and I can recognize what I need to throw overboard in my life. So I never stop studying, learning and practicing what Jesus taught. I have come into a place where I fear transformation less as I see my likeness to Christ show up.
The goal seems simple enough – stay consistent with God’s Word and in the power of the Holy Spirit – when God calls, He also provides everything necessary to accomplish His will.
I would say the danger does not lie with the call, it is what happens when we respond and become stronger and more confident. Somehow there is a temptation to become strong in our own conceit. Too the point where we credit ourselves with whom we have become when in fact it is due to the grace of God. Look at Uzziah’s life.
In Jerusalem he made machines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.
But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. – 2 Chronicles 26:15-16 ESV
It happens to all of us I think and I know I find myself going back to the basics all the time.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. – Romans 3:21-27 ESV
There is no salvation in any other – my calling and works have no ground for boasting. So I enjoy my calling knowing that God continues to work in me and His work has made the calling what it is.
Disciple 