Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture- “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.”- Matthew 4:18-20
Insight: When you read the Bible you see interesting stories of people who were just living their lives when suddenly God put a call to action on their life and they were pulled into His eternal story. The key thing in every case is they were willing to say “yes” to His plan, even when they were terrified or didn’t understand. Some even tried to argue with God, like Moses, and try to convince God that surely He was making a mistake, but of course God never makes a mistake. Even Jesus himself spent his first 30 years on the earth in relative obscurity before God called Him out into His testing period in the wilderness for 40 days ( Matthew 4:1-11 ) before He began His world changing 3 year ministry. Peter and Andrew were fishing when Jesus called them and they instantly dropped their nets and followed him to become fisher of men. ( Matthew 4:20 ) David was a lowly Shepherd Boy when God called him to the front lines ( 1 Samuel 17:17-24 ) to confront and defeat the Philistine giant Goliath. Moses was tending to his father-in-law Jethro’s flock ( Exodus 3:1 ) when God pulled him to Mt. Horeb to begin the plan to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt. Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress ( Judges 6:11 ) when God called him to lead an army of 300 to defeat the mighty Midianite army. Rahab was a prostitute when God used her to hide the spies Joshua had sent into Jericho and so God spared her ( Joshua 6:25 ) from the destruction He brought upon the people there. Saul, the persecutor of the early Christian Church became Paul after his encounter with the Lord Jesus on the Damascus Road ( Acts 9 ) and wrote over 75% of the New Testament. Jonah even tried to run away, but eventually learned the hard lesson that it is much better to simply obey God’s calling.
So what do these stories have in common and does this all mean for us? It means that sometimes God calls His people into action with very little notice and we need to be ready to answer the bell when He calls us. We are all qualified to be used by God because God uses the unqualified, which compared to Him is all of us! This requires two things from us: We must be attuned to God with ears to hear and we must have an obedient heart that responds with an attitude of “ yes Lord, whatever You need from me I am in.” Preparation is the key and all of our pride must die, or He can’t use us. Of course, this will always seem impossible, because in our own human wisdom and strength it is. It is always about God getting all the glory, and so the odds must be so stacked against us ( think Daniel in the Lion’s Den ) that whatever He calls us into, there will be no room for us to take credit for any of the victories that God brings. The key thing as His people is will we be ready when He calls? We need to set in our hearts right now, that the answer will be yes, no matter how inconvenient or crazy it seems, because it most likely will seem very crazy to all around us, and even to us ourselves, but what an honor and a privilege if God does chose to call us into His service for His eternal purposes. That is the most significant thing that could ever happen to us in our lives.
Prayer: Father God, whatever You need us to do for Your Eternal Kingdom purposes the answer is Yes! Now help us to have ears to hear and hearts that are in tune with your love and compassion so we are ready when You call us. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen!
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