Recently Paige and I went to see the new movie, Sound of Freedom, and a line in the movie stuck out to me. One of the characters, revealing his call to the work he is doing, says “when God tells you what to do, you cannot hesitate.” There are so many stories in Scripture of people called by God. There are people called to do things that doesn’t fully make sense and definitely don’t to the people around them. Noah was called to do something that probably did not make complete sense to him at the time and he faced ridicule the entire time. Throughout it all he did not give up, he did not question, he did not hesitate. Scripture tells the story of people who truly cannot hesitate even for a few moments. Scripture may not say whether God spoke to Rahab or not but what she does definitely has His fingerprints on it. Had she hesitated, had she took time to think about what to do who knows how that story would have unfolded. Isaiah is another example. The first half of verse 8 of chapter 6 in the book of Isaiah God asks who He can send as a messenger and within the same verse Isaiah responds that he will go. Scripture again shows no hesitation to do the work of the Lord when He calls. I could write all day about these kinds of stories because we find it throughout all of Scripture.
The reason this line and this topic stuck in my mind is because God calls all of us. He calls all of us to be servants, to be his children. He calls all of us to different works, roles, etc. Romans 12:4-8 tells us that we are gifted in different ways to serve in different ways. “4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” Another reason this idea stays with me is because I work with teens. I remind out group that they will be called at some time in their life and it may be soon. I always encourage them when it comes to anything in their relationship with God that they should start now. Whether if they’re ready to give their life to Christ, to start living their life committed to Christ, or serve in the way they have been called, I encourage them to start now.
My message to any who read this: do not hesitate. Do not wait, do not put it off, do not save it for the next person. Do it now and do it always. God calls for reason and always calls the right person. He qualifies the called. When God comes calling, answer.