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Written by Rianna Elmshaeuser, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Colorado
One of the most comforting memes I’ve ever seen says, “When God put a calling on your life, he already factored in your stupidity.” When God calls us to something, it can be exciting and terrifying all at once. Feelings of “I want this but I have no idea what I’m doing,” and ”What if I mess it up and souls are lost because I was mistaken about my calling” race through our minds. To put my favorite meme another way, God knows everything about you; good and bad, your level of competence, the family you’re from, the church you attend, your deepest fears and failings, the questionable and sometimes destructive patterns in your life. He looked at all of that and He said, “You. I pick you.”
When God called Isaiah in Isaiah 6, the prophet was distressed because he wasn’t perfect and had sinned. After pointing this out to God, Isaiah was cleansed of his guilt and sins. God called again and Isaiah said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isa 6:8b NIV). If we have obeyed the gospel and are followers of Christ, we are in the same position as Isaiah. I know people like Isaiah who have something put on their hearts by God and are able to seize the opportunity placed before them without hesitation. God says, “Jump,” and they say, “How high?”
I wish this were the case for me, but it is not. On the spectrum of taking a leap of faith, I fall a lot closer to Moses than I do Isaiah. Let’s look at Moses’ calling by God which started with a miracle and goes on for two chapters. After witnessing the miracle of an ever-burning bush, Moses is told to go to the elders of Israel and convince them, who already believe in God, to go to the king. God tells Moses exactly what he should say and what God will do to convince Pharoah to let the Israelites go. I want to pause and just note that, wouldn’t that be great? Not only would you have a whole crowd of people with you to confront the most powerful king in the world at the time, but God says, “Here is the game plan and how the future will play out.”
Moses argues and argues even after more miracles are performed for him until God gets angry. He is being told to speak again and again and again by Almighty God of whom he has the good sense to be very afraid and he still asks Him to send someone else. But in Exodus 4:14, we see that God already knew that Moses, in addition to being the meekest man that ever lived, had an unmatched and unrivaled fear of public speaking for all of time.
Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, ‘What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you’”. (Ex 4:14)
God wanted Moses to trust Him, but He knew how hard that would be, so He called Moses’ brother out to the wilderness before His conversation with Moses.
It is easy to look at Moses’ story and shake my head in awe at his stubbornness. But then when I look at my own life, I know that I need constant reassurance from God in my calling. God is patient and faithful and always provides it, but when will I push Him too far? Take a look at your own life. Is there something that you feel pushed to do but have found reason after reason after reason not to do it? God has demonstrated and documented His ultimate power for all of us yet somehow we manage to believe that He cannot overcome our individual personality flaws.
I recently started my Master’s program to become a counselor and on the first day of class, the professor asked everyone why they chose Denver Seminary. The stories everyone told were fascinating. There were people from Asia, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and all over the United States. Each person had a unique story. Some were not sure exactly how they wound up at this school. Some had dreamed of coming there. There was one person who had desperately tried to leave the area to get away from home but wound up five minutes from her house.
What I am taking away from the stories shared and from Isaiah and Moses is that when God puts a calling on your life, trust Him. He knows what He’s doing, and He picked you for a reason.
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Written by Wendy Neill, Advancement Coordinator for Iron Rose Sister Ministries
Do you have a favorite book? It might be from your childhood or something you’ve read as an adult. There’s a good chance you’ve been through it several times, and you love to recommend it to others. It might be a fictional story or a nonfiction book that changed your life. Impactful books are written by authors endowed by God with a special gift for words.
Is the Bible your favorite book? I hope so. We’ve probably all had seasons in our life when it was and seasons when it wasn’t. The author of Psalm 119 had a deep, abiding love for the Word of God which remained steadfast even in difficult seasons (see vv. 81-93). Let’s learn from him.
This author definitely had that God-given gift for masterful writing. He wrote Psalm 119 as an acrostic poem. When you were in school, did you ever have to write an acrostic poem where each line started with the next letter of your name? I was terrible at those. The poem always sounded forced.
Psalm 119 is divided into eight-verse stanzas. Within each stanza, all eight verses start with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet! It is hard for us to see that artistic form since we aren’t reading it in the original Hebrew. Can you imagine writing eight verses that all begin with a difficult letter, like “X”? This author does it seamlessly and it doesn’t sound forced. He utilizes his exquisite skill and the entire Hebrew alphabet to express his love for God’s Word.
Keep in mind, he is not talking about the full Bible as we know it. He is referring to the first five books of the Old Testament: God’s laws, decrees, statutes, commandments, and ordinances. Here are some ways he describes God’s law:
- Great spoil/treasure/riches - vv. 14, 162
- A delight - vv. 24, 77, 143
- A path - v. 35
- A comfort - v. 52
- A light to our path - v. 105
- Sweeter than honey - v. 103
- A refuge and shield - v. 114
- Better than pure gold - v. 127
- Eternal - v. 160
- A source of great peace - v. 165
I can say that about much of our Bible, but those descriptions aren’t how I would personally describe Leviticus or Deuteronomy. This guy understands that God’s laws are meant to bless us, just as a wise, loving parent’s rules allow a child to thrive in a safe environment.
Throughout this psalm, the author alludes to listening to God through Scripture.
- Teach me your decrees so I can teach others. - vv. 12-13
- I spoke to you and you answered me. - v. 26
- Direct me in the path of your commands. - v. 35
- Teach me knowledge and good judgment. - v. 66
- The law from your mouth is precious. - v. 72
I encourage you to listen to God through His Word this week. Ask Him to teach and direct you. Read Psalm 119 first, then the next day, read from your favorite book of the Bible.
- What is God teaching you as you commit to listening through His written Word?
- How can you fall more in love with Him and the decrees He has set because He loves you?
- Is there someone to whom you can recommend His Book?
By the way, because this author loved God’s statutes so deeply—and used his talent to glorify Him—God added this man’s ode to the Scriptures for all future generations! What an honor!