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Don't
Give Up on God's Calling
Each
one of us is to believe that we have a place in the mind of God and in His
creation, separate and distinct from every other creature, and that He loves us
with a private, personal love. He has assigned to each of us a special mission
and service which no one else can do in just the way that God wants us to do
it. If we do not believe this, then we do not believe that God is the Infinite
One whom the Bible reveals, and we do not believe in our destiny as revealed in
Scripture.
The
Bible contains numerous passages proving that each person has a special
vocation in the providence of God and that if he or she is yielded in obedient
faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, that special vocation will be carried out. We
are told that "the stars in their courses fought against Sisera,"
from which we learn that God appoints to every star a special circuit along
which it is to move.
Then
we read that God appoints every man to his work (see Mark 13:34). And again,
that John the Baptist fulfilled his course.
Before
Jesus died, He prayed to the Father, "I have finished the work which Thou
gavest Me to do" (John 17:4). Paul said he wanted to finish his course
with joy. We are each one told to "run...the race that is set before
us" (Heb. 12:1).
The
Bible is full of this thought, that for each one of us there is a course, a
race, a work, an individual life to be lived. To this end we have been created
and redeemed, and for this purpose there is ample provision of grace and
inspiration.
Let's
look at our personal vocation from God's side. Our relation to God must come
first of all.
The
reason we are created and the significance of all our labor, trials,
difficulties, successes, failures and in fact everything that belongs to us
must be looked at first of all in light of our relation to God. It is certain
that because He formed us and redeemed us, He must take more interest in us and
have a greater regard for us than all other creatures combined. And again, it
is evident that God has given us a mission to fill in His own mind that is in
proportion to our special makeup and that He foresees for each of us
possibilities that we do not see and that our fellow creatures would never
suspect.
Most
of the lives in the human race are lived in obscurity and never known beyond a
circle of a few acquaintances. Of the millions on Earth, only a small percent
ever come into public notice or form a part of recorded history.
Of
that number most live only for self and sin and amount to almost nothing in the
purpose of God, and are total failures, perhaps, on God's side. In fact, it is
likely that the number of human beings who are known in public life and to
history are just as few in proportion as the number of water-drops that are
visible in the sea. Hence it is certain that God has not made all the human
souls as a mere parade but that they are made for Him, to love and serve Him,
to fill a private mission in His love and will which we do not understand.
Many
wonder what God gave them an existence for, as they are so obscure, so
helpless, so hedged about. But if such souls could only know enough to abandon
themselves to God's will, they would see that they are capable of living unto
God and glorifying Him with a private worship and obedience that will satisfy
the divine purpose in their creation. And in the end they will find that they
filled the sphere of God's plan for them.
If
one soul fails to do its part in the purpose of God, He will miss that work from
His universe. It is said of a certain musician who was conducting a great
orchestra that when one instrument failed to strike one note in the program,
the master's keen ear detected the absence of that one note in the performance.
God
is so infinite that if one little soul living in obscurity in some hid-away
place fails to fill its mission, He will miss that note in the vast orchestra
of the universe, which is perpetually sounding forth His praise. It is not any
mere action that God would miss so much as the love and confidence of some
trusting soul.
The
highest mission any creature can fill is to love the Lord with all the soul,
mind and will. And this secret mission to which we are called takes rank above
all outward action, public history or splendid performance in the eyes of our
fellow creatures.
We
must also look at our vocation on the man side, or in relation to our fellow
creatures. God has arranged countless threads of relationship between each one
of us and all other creatures, and so multiplied, so intricate are they as to
be beyond all our calculations. In one sense we may say that God is weaving out
a vast fabric in human history and that each soul forms a thread or a stitch in
the enormous pattern.
God
is using us creatures in our life-work to touch thousands of others and
influence them, as well as to have thousands of others touch us by word or
influence or personal presence. Thus creatures are blended with creatures in a
tangled maze of ministry for help or for trial, for joy or for sorrow, for
happiness or for disappointment, so that our special mission is related to the
special mission of others, in order to make one whole, and yet not interfere
with each of us filling our appointed place.
As
every creature that walks or crawls on the earth leaves its print in some form
or other, so every responsible soul in passing through life leaves an imprint
on other souls. But that imprint can only fulfill God's will when such souls
are living under the guidance of His Spirit.
In
many ways that would not be according to our choice, we need the ministry of
our fellow creatures, and God often uses them to wound us or correct us or
disappoint us to serve a purpose in our lives. And then again He will use
others to encourage or comfort or instruct us, so that could we see our life
mission in the clear light of faith, we would receive all things that come into
our lives as designed for our good and accept all things as from God to us. It
is evident that our life mission must be interwoven with those of our fellow
creatures for the benefit of all parties in ways unknown to us.
In
the next place, we should seek to discover what our life mission is. There are
some who from childhood have a strong intuition as to what their vocation is to
be, and this applies to people of the world, as well as to those who are
Christians.
But
I speak now with reference to the children of God, who are living mainly for
life in the future world. And those who live mostly for the future life are the
ones who live best in the present life and who best fulfill their vocation in
this world.
It
is an inspiration to any soul when he has a clear view of his special life-work
and an ideal vision of what God wants to accomplish in and by his life. There
is a peculiar thrill when we even suspect some special mission God has for us.
But when it becomes a settled conviction as to what our work is then our heart
runs out in the work, if we are willing and obedient, and everything in our
lives from that time on becomes tributary to that one supreme vocation.
In
order to do our life-work in the best way, we must have a clear apprehension of
it, and then we must love it and put all our heart in it and watch God's
dealings with us in relation to it. The most significant things in our lives, such
as our dreams, our meditations, our inspirations, the peculiar leadings of
God's providence, will come to us right along the line of our special vocation.
Oftentimes
other people will be led to speak to us words of special import or
encouragement along the line of our life work. For instance, when God designs a
child to be a preacher of the gospel, that child will have premonitions of it,
and along in his life other persons will speak to him on this matter. And as
life goes on the various providences and the various incidents, both in his
mind and outer life, will all seem to point in that direction.
This
same truth will apply to any other vocation. People who have no definite view
as to their life-work are apt to beat the air. They work at random; they run
like the man in Scripture, without a message; they waste a great deal of energy
in doing nothing.
You
may ask, "How shall I find my special vocation?" I answer, "By a
life of prayer." Not by simply saying prayers, but by living a life of
continued talking with God, by a perfect surrender to Him through Jesus, a
perfect willingness to give up your own thoughts, plans, and prejudices and
being willing for God to possess you and lead you in the way He chooses for you
to go.
You
are to believe that God loves you with an eternal love, that God has a place
for you and a mission for you to fill. Then, on the basis of His Word, plead
with Him to open up to your mind your special mission, whether it be in the
private or public forum, and feel sure from the teachings of Scripture that it
is God's will to give you such a sufficient insight into your vocation as will
satisfy you. With that insight there will come a loving ardor and a tireless
zeal to accomplish the task.
Sadly,
there are many Christians who miss their true mission in life. Although they
may be saved in the end, yet because of lack of perseverance or the influence
of other people's opinions, they frustrate the special vocation to which they
were called. They have been gifted in many ways and evidently have been called
of God for various kinds of service or usefulness or holy character and have
been sidetracked, or have given up their work, and thereby frustrated the plan
of God.
To
be faithful to our calling in life is the greatest thing in all human
character. It is not so much the size of our abilities, or the conspicuousness
of our life-work, but that hidden, deep, settled obedience to God, that humble
faithfulness to His calling day by day, moment by moment, in the place where we
are that will tell in the ages to come and mark our rank in the kingdom of God
when the crowns are distributed.
George
D. Watson (1848-1923) was a holiness evangelist and the author of several
books, including Bridehood Saints, from which this excerpt was taken.
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