Outline - Receiving the Call of God (p1)

I took a break from writing up my essay, made a cuppa and opened up my Bible.  I was thinking about Exodus 3 so that's where I read. 

I've always loved reading Bible stories since I was a child.  When I was 9 years old my Mum and Dad gave me a Chad Valley projector for Christmas.  It was like a torch that showed coloured slides you pushed through the slot and projected onto a wall or sheet.  What was so unusual about mine was that it was stories from the Bible.  I really loved that thing.  I was always trying to get my family and friends to come and watch some slide show but it wasn't their thing and I ended up watching by myself.  I loved Moses leading the people out of Egypt and across the Red Sea.  Oddly enough though I knew some of the children in my neighbourhood and school got projectors for presents I never knew anyone who had the Bible Stories version.

Anyway on that spring morning I opened my Bible and started to read in that 'oh yes' kind of way because you're familiar with the story.  This time was different.  I knew the story very well but I couldn't stop reading as though I was reading for the first time.  When I reached chapter six I stopped.  My heart was racing.

"Lord", I said out loud to the kitchen.  "I really love this story, it's full of drama, mystery and intrigue.  Even though I know so much about it, even though I've heard it taught so often it still catches my imagination.  Thank you". 

I was feeling really satisfied with myself although I didn't really know why I'd decided to pick up the Bible and read about Moses.  My essay was waiting, I was behind with my course work, my deadline was looming so break was over. 

As I started to close the Bible something in me felt I had to read over chapter 3 again.  It was different this time.  I read aloud and suddenly I'm there.  I can see Moses, I can see the sheep, hills, vegetation and sky.  I see the land stretching away to the horizon but the text doesn't describe any of this in detail.  I'm there, watching Moses and yet I know I'm in my kitchen - I can see my laptop on the counter, the dishes on the drainer, the garden through the window and people passing by on the street outside. 

I know I'm in my kitchen yet I know I'm not imagining the scene with Moses.  I hear his objections and protestations and I hear my own. Every time I felt the Lord was asking me to do something I felt ill equipped for I had spoken the same kinds of words Moses was speaking.  It was so sobering.

Now, as I read these words and remember my own objections I'm given a new perspective on this episode.  I grabbed the laptop and typed 2 pages of notes.  The content excited me.  I read it over with a critical eye.  Did I really write this stuff?  Was the Lord giving me a new perspective?  It seemed so but there was a niggling doubt. 

For months  I had been unwell.  I'd  really struggled with my written work.  Committing my thoughts to paper in a coherent way wasn't easy.  As well as doing a full time degree condensed into 6 full days of lectures per month, I had a full time job, a home to run and two teenagers to manage.  Keeping all those things going was draining without the complication of ill health.  

I was fatigued, my immune system was taking a battering and my energy levels were very low.  The fatigue affected my thought processes resulting in confusion.  It was difficult to garner information I knew I had stored.   I was fighting a constant battle over what I knew and how to express it.  Overcoming the vast emptiness in my long and short term memory was frustrating as words and knowledge failed me. 

Yet there was no confusion as I wrote about Exodus 3 & 4.  It came in an unbroken stream - the words were being dictated in my head and I wrote them.  I couldn't have written anything so clear, not in my current state.  One thing was for sure, I was excited, I was high, I was praising and rejoicing at what was on the screen.  It was coherent, clear and orderly. 

For the first time since I'd made a commitment to walk with the Lord I had clarity on a subject that meant so much to me.....

How will I know when I have been called into a ministry?  Will I recognise the Call?

As far as I was concerned the question had just been answered.  It was right in front of my eyes in Exodus 3.  It had been there all along but I never saw it until that spring morning.  It was so simple, so clear and so well laid out.  I had missed it all this time because it's written as a narrative and I was caught up in the chain of events. 

I had been blind to the principles and applications in this text.  It was so obvious but maybe I expected it to be more complicated.  I hadn't learned to actively look for principles and applications, it would be another year before the Lord gave me a reading plan and a guide on how to study scripture.  But I've learned over the last few years that with the Lord it is often simpler than I might think or want it to be. 

You'll find my insight in part two - I hope it blesses you.

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