High Calling: ACKNOWLEDGE (November 2017)

Sometimes all you have is your calling. Life doesn’t make sense because nothing adds up. I’m sure Paul felt that way being in prison for many years. He had a great reason for feeling “stuck.” Regularly tracing our steps back to the time when God laid the “mantle” upon us is a healthy practice. ACKNOWLEDGE is the focus in this edition of High Calling.

One of the most questions asked most often is “What’s the purpose?” By 2013, The Purpose Driven Life, written by Rick Warren, founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, had sold 60 million copies. That’s a lot of trees! And a lot of ink to help explain our purpose for existing here on planet Earth. If only God would reveal to us beforehand why we have to go through the “unexplainables” of life. But then, we’d worry and be anxiety-ridden and miss the entire reason God has us where He has us. All of us desire that our lives have meaning and impact. But when we measure that desire against how we see our lives, we are often left wondering, “What’s the purpose?”

A really funny comic shows a teacher standing at the board, pointer in hand, answering a high schooler’s question about life. On the left of the board was the word BIRTH, with an arrow pointing to the middle of the board with the words IN BETWEEN STUFF, and an arrow pointing right to the word DEATH. A student raises his hand and asks, “Is that it?” Funny comic, but it illustrates how we can wrongly oversimplify the nonsensical. Our favorite characters in the O.T. had to deal with the gory reality of offering animal sacrifices for their sins, not knowing that a millennia later the ultimate sacrifice would be made with Jesus’ death on the cross. Acknowledging God’s Word regarding the practices for forgiveness of sins had to be enough for them. Moses had to lead a grumbling nation to the edge of death at the Red Sea, not knowing God was going to part the sea so they could walk on dry ground and escape the pursuing enemy. Acknowledging that God had already spoken to Moses had to be enough for him and them. Jesus’ disciples were faced with all kinds of doubts when He died and was buried like every other man in history. Acknowledging the amazing miracles they had seen Jesus perform and remembering that He said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up” had to be enough for them.

Don’t doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light. His Word stands. Keep moving toward fulfilling your calling. Even when things don’t make sense. ESPECIALLY when things don’t make sense. You don’t know what lies ahead. Never forget God has a purpose for everything. A jot is the tenth and smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. In America, our word is “iota.” A tittle is even smaller than that. It is an extension to a Hebrew letter and can change the entire meaning. It is the difference between drawing the letter with one stroke or two! Retrace your steps to your calling and rest in the fact that Jesus Himself said in John 2:19, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (KJV).

Acknowledge God’s calling on your life. Don’t doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light. Whatever it is, it’s coming . . . and let that be enough for you.