Mensa Otabil - Called
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With Pharaoh’s magicians acknowledging that this indeed is a finger of God, we take a little break from the plagues of Egypt, but we still want to learn some lessons from what we have seen so far. I go to the book of Acts, chapter 7, and verse 35. This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, «Who made you a ruler and a judge?» is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. These are the words of Stephen as he makes a defense of the gospel in his time. In this passage, Stephen is speaking back to Moses, whom we’ve been studying so far, and he describes the significance of God’s calling on Moses’s life. He was rejected by the people but called by God.
Many times, when God calls us to do something, people will reject us, but people’s rejection will not move God’s hand against you, because God works by His own counsel and not by popular opinion. Everything that God used Moses to do was because God called him. If God had not called him, Moses would not have been used. From the moment Moses responded to the call of God, he moved from just being a shepherd taking care of his father-in-law’s sheep to becoming a tool in the hands of the Lord, a deliverer that God had called.
To truly experience significance in our lives and to do the things that God wants us to do, we must first hear His call and respond to His call. God’s calling for you and for me is His perfect will for us, but His calling is not the same for everybody. For Moses, he was called to be a deliverer; you may not be called to be a deliverer, and I may not be called to be a deliverer. Aaron was called to go and support Moses.
So we learn from the call of God that there are people God calls to do something and others who are called to support those who have been called to do something else. Part of the calling that God gives us requires that we serve other people, that we work under other people, that we follow other people. Following other people is not an indication that you don’t have God’s call upon your life. Noah was not called to be a deliverer like Moses; he was called to build a boat, an ark, and that’s what he did. Bezalel was called to design artwork.
We see that God’s calling is not the same for everybody. Many times, people think that when we talk about calling, we are only talking about the clergymen, men of God, women of God, and people who serve in full-time Christian ministry. However, God’s calling is very diverse. Some are called to be artists, some are called to be medical health practitioners to help people get well, some are called to make people laugh, and some are called to entertain us.
Whatever your call is, the most important thing is to know that what I am doing is not just something I want to do, but this is what God wants me to do. It is when you discover this is what God wants you to do that it becomes a calling. You approach it not as something you are just doing to enrich yourself, to make yourself popular, or to make yourself famous. You accept it because this is a role you are playing because it fits into God’s plan for your life. It is in that place that God’s strength becomes our strength, and He guides us as He did for Moses. No matter what the Pharaoh is that we face, He gives us victory, and the finger of God will be upon us.
Let us pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, by faith, I reach out to Your high calling and purposes. I submit to Your assignment for my life. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. God has a plan for you; respond to it. I’ll catch you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.