Are you afraid of being called by Jesus to do His work? Don’t be afraid. God will put you where He knows He has work for you to do. The better question is, what if I’m not called? If you are not being called by Jesus to do His work, then you really need to fall to your knees, repent of whatever sin is going on in your life, ask for healing and ask the Holy Spirit to show you where God wants you to work for Him. Ask for opportunities, be willing to go where He will lead you. For all of us who have control issues, this can be really scary. Maybe you need to pray for boldness first to ask for God’s will in your life. That’s ok too.
The Call of Moses
Being called by God doesn’t always come easy. Moses, himself had difficulty with being called by God. When God called Moses, Moses had already fled Egypt because he had murdered a man and had been in Midian about 40 years shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep. He had all kinds of objections when God told him to free the Israelites from the Egyptians. In Exodus chapters 3 and 4, we can read about Moses’ objections. First, Moses tells God that he doesn’t know his name. God not only gives Moses a thorough explanation of His name, “I am who I am,” the God of Israel’s founding fathers. God then encourages Moses and tells him exactly how He is going to free His people. But Moses objects again, telling God that the people won’t believe him. God then gives two miraculous signs that Moses can perform to show that God is with him. The first sign is that his rod will turn into a snake and the second sign is that by putting his had inside his cloak and pulling it out, his hand will turn leprous. When Moses returns his hand inside his cloak, his hand will be clean of leprosy. Finally, Moses objects, saying that he spoke slowly, and was not an eloquent speaker. He then tells God to send another person. God gets angry with Moses here, probably because Moses really wasn’t telling the truth about his speaking abilities and he was rejecting God’s call. (Acts 7:22, “And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.”) However, God sees that Moses needs a sidekick and gives him Aaron to speak for him. Moses finally agrees to take on God’s calling and the rest is history, as they say.
My Call to China
Whenever I read the story of Moses’ call from God, I used to think, “How can Moses argue with God?” Here was this fantastic servant of God who God used to bring His people out of slavery. For the most part, Moses obeyed God and many miracles were done through him, much bigger than the parlor tricks of a rod turning into a snake and a leprous hand. We’re talking about the parting of the Red Sea here and speaking to God in His presence and the imparting of the Ten Commandments. But then I look back at my own call, and say, “Oooh, I so understand Moses’ reluctance and then obedience to God’s call.
I had been a high school German teacher for ten years and was currently teaching English as a Second Language in public schools. I was a couple years divorced, a single mom of a wonderful boy and asking God to show me what He wanted me to do with my life. I had always been interested in missions, and the Holy Spirit was nudging me to teach overseas in the mission field. My thought was that I would go to Germany since German was my second language and I had studied over there for a summer. I was comfortable with being sent there for missions.
However, God had other ideas. While helping English language learners with studying for their final exams in high school, one of the students asked a very important question. We were all studying around the table. A couple of the students were studying for their Biology final. They were from Korea, there was a student from a South American Country, I don’t remember which one, and a student from China. The two students from Korea were studying about evolution. I helped them with the concepts as they pertained to their English, but being a Christian, I couldn’t leave the concept of evolution without explaining that it was really only a theory and that there was another view of creation. Because I was teaching in a public school, I had to choose my words carefully, but the students could say anything they wanted. The two Korean students piped up, “Oh we know. We don’t believe in evolution, we believe that God created everything.” The student from South America added, “me too.” Then the Chinese student asked, “Who is this God guy? My grandmother talks about Him.” In the ten minutes left of class, all of us explained who God was. He said that his grandmother went to church. I encouraged him to go with her. I never had an opportunity to talk with this student again. But what impressed me was that this young man had never heard the name of Jesus until he came to America to live with his grandmother. God used this situation to help convince me to go to China.
However, it wasn’t that simple, China seemed so far away and I knew German. I remember praying, “God, I know German, I should go to Germany, are You sure you’ve got this right?” I distinctly remember hearing God gently, but strictly saying, “Do you remember Jonah?” I got the message. However, I had no idea how I was supposed to get there. I went to a conference and visited all the mission booths. There I met the representatives from the organization I would start going to China with. I needed to raise money to pay for my trip and stay. I started out, going just for a summer as I was studying for my PhD in the States. I could not take my son with me and I had never been apart from him for more than a couple of days. However, God provided for my son to stay with my parents for one month, and his father for a month, the entire time I was to be gone.
Even so, when I left my son at my parents’ home and started for the airport, I was distraught. At one point, I had to pull over onto the side of the road because I was crying so hard that I couldn’t see to drive. It wasn’t because I was afraid of going half way around the world to a place I had never been before, it was because I already missed my son. God, however, reassured me that my son was in His hands and I was to continue on. He dried my tears and filled me with excitement to do His will.
The Result of Following God
My call came 24 years ago. Since then I have been involved with the Chinese people both in China and in America. I have taught for three universities and worked for the Ministry of Education in China. My son and I lived in China for three years and his Mandarin is so much better than mine. God has been good to me and my family and He deserves all the praise for a life that has been anything but boring. I look forward to the next 24 years and what God has planned for me. I trust Him completely.
If God is calling you, follow. It’s ok if your call is not auspicious, neither was Moses’ and neither was mine. However, both of us put aside our short-sightedness and followed God in His plan for our lives. All I know is that I do not regret going to China as God called me to do. I have lived a life that many people think is amazing and I don’t really think twice about because it was dedicated to doing God’s will as best I could.
Photo credit: http://placez-world.blogspot.com/2011/12/map-of-world-old-style.html
