When God Calls

Introduction

Everyone of us has felt the call of God in our lives. All who are saved believers in the Lord Jesus Christ felt that call for salvation.

Maybe you felt called to go into a career.

Maybe you were called to speak to someone.

Maybe you were called to go to people you did not want to go to to help them.

Some of the calls from God are not easy to respond to. We sometimes want to reject them and do what we desire.

Maybe this is because we do not feel like doing what we feel compelled to do by the Lord.

Maybe we don’t want to go to those who God says go to.

We can justify in our minds all the reasons why we should not do certain things.

We can make reasons why we should not go to some people, serve in some ministry, stop doing so many things that are not ministry involved so we can serve in ministry more.

Work, community service, sports, and many other things may be interfering with us hearing and obeying when God calls.

When we awake every morning we should ask of God this question a Danish novelist, Arker Larsen, asks; “What orders have you for me today?”

Do you remember a TV series from the nineties called “The Early Edition?”

In this series a man opens his door one morning and finds a cat sitting on a newspaper that has the next days date on it. At first he doesn't think much of it until he realizes it really is a paper from the future.

He then spends the rest of his time seeking to help other people by stopping crime, helping them avoid wrecks, and many other things.

This is what it is like to have the Lord call you. You can act and be involved and maybe prevent many accidents and struggles for others, or you can ignore the call and miss out on being involved in the glory of the Lord.

When we run from God’s call, we will find out that running was a lot harder than being involved, even when being involved is hard.

We have a perfect example of this from the prophet Jonah.

Jonah received a call from the Lord and he ran, he was punished, followed along finally and was bitter. This man demonstrates to us what we should not do and how we should not behave.

So, when God calls, the first thing you should do is...

Don’t Run

In Jonah 1:1-6 we read

Jonah 1:1–6 ESV

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. 4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Jonah ran. He did not just avoid and act like he did not hear, he ran and was running far away.

Running from God is something many have done. We have a deep human connection with Jonah in this. We all too often run from God’s call. We will flee when he calls and not only that, but we will make a million excuses why running is right.

Jonah may have ran because of his ethnocentrism (i.e., racism) against the Ninevites. Maybe he deemed them too wicked for them to hear of the amazing grace of God because he knew God would forgive them if they turned to Him (c.f., Jonah 4:2).

We need to avoid this type of thinking because God is not our own God that we do not share. God is the God of all and savior of all who believe.

He is a big God and will save as many as He wants from whoever and wherever He wants. We are not the one’s who decide this. God is a saving God and will do as He pleases.

But Jonah still balked at preaching to these people. He was selfish and wanted them to suffer rather than receive grace.

This is something we must not do. We must always be open to sharing the gospel with all who are around.

Why would we not proclaim the good news? Why would we withhold this goodness of God from those who are wicked and need it? How bad do we hate someone that we would not share with them how to receive salvation and freedom from eternal damnation?

When we fail to follow the call from God, we and those around us may find ourselves in a deep struggle. We may be in a judgment that is not only on us but all around. Like Jonah received with this storm.

Just like this situation with Jonah we may be like the sailors and begin to try and shuck many things thinking that is the problem and if we just lose those burdens, we will make it safely through.

We may begin to work harder at where we are and find we are stuck in a rut and just not making it out, like the sailors and their rowing harder and harder in verse 13.

The problem here is that we fail because we are still running from God rather than turning to Him.

Look what happens to Jonah here. He is cast into the sea and swallowed by a large fish. He is punished for his disobedience, but those around him become believers.

So we see the amazing power of the Lord even in our rebellion and failures. He will not allow any of our pathetic actions fail, but will make good come from them. But this does not give freedom to ignore God and reject His calling on you, but to show that He doesn’t need you to do what He desires but He desires to use us.

What a glorious thought that is. We are used by God because He wants to use us. He doesn’t need us, but wants to use us.

Wow! That is power. But when He wants us, He will make sure we do what He wants.

So, don’t run and try and avoid what God calls you to do or else you will find yourself in a bad situation. One where you will regret not going in the right direction.

Because just like when a cow or any type of bovine runs off from the call or gather and they get roped, it is painful when the rope comes tight.

When The Rope Comes Tight

When the storm arose and Jonah was cast into the sea, that is when the rope came tight. He was snared and could not flee. Those around took notice and realized something was up.

To reiterate what I already said, those who take notice of punishment happening to you and realize that it is from God, will not forget what happened, God can and will use your rebellion to complete what He desires.

But there is an easier way to accomplish those desires. Just like roping a cow, yearling, bull, or any other type of cattle is the hard way to accomplish the job; it works but there is an easier way.

The easier way is to just do what you are called to do. What God says to do. For a cow, it is easier to just go in the pen rather than be chased and missed several times possibly and then caught and choked.

Jonah faced this choking and catching when he went into the fishes belly.

In Jonah 2:1-6 we read of his casting in the sea and His prayer to God. Kind of like when that rope comes tight and the cow begins to beller, that is her prayer for freedom. Jonah prayed for his failures and for redemption.

Then in Jonah 2:7-10 we see

Jonah 2:7–10 ESV

7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” 10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Through the pain and misery, Jonah finally fully turns to God. He remembered the Lord. This means he gave acknowledgment back to God and what He desired.

It took misery for Jonah to finally do the right thing. Just like roping a cow. They finally do the right thing through misery. That has always looked miserable to me. Being choked and pulled around, looks miserable. But it could have been easier.

Just like with Jonah, it could have been easier. He could have gone the right way to begin with.

What about you? Are prayers going out but you are not seeing answers?

Are you struggling?

Are you feeling alone?

Look at your life and ask if you are truly following what God has called you to do.

God does not always send a large fish to punish you, He sometimes disregards prayers and desires to Him so you will seek Him more fully.

He desires you to be fully committed to Him and what He has planned for you.

If you are feeling God is telling you to do something, then test that against His Word before acting and if it aligns with His character in His Word, then do what He has called you to do before you are in misery and needing rescue.

Turn to Him and receive grace and mercy like the pagan sailors received before Jonah did because Jonah was hard of heart and battling against God.

He turned to Him and repented and decided to do what God called Him to do, but I feel like Jonah was like that rebellious cow you roped. She may be going the right way, but is She REALLY going the right way?

Going The Right Way?

Here in chapter three we see that Jonah finally went and proclaimed the message God had for the Ninevites. Jonah finally submitted to God after the pain and suffering and went.

He took the battering and embarrassment of being swallowed and nearly dying and the humility that came.

In Jonah 2:10 “10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.”

He was vomited out on the beach then in Jonah 3:1-3

Jonah 3:1–3 ESV

1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.

He went and proclaimed the word to them and Jonah 3:5 they turned.

Jonah 3:5 ESV

5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

Jonah finally went and proclaimed the judgment to come to them after facing judgment and then amazing grace himself.

What is amazing about this is that he did this but just like some of those rogue cows that have been choked, they still look out of the herd and want to run but also remember what happens when they do.

Jonah went and proclaimed because he had been caught and was in trouble.

Again, this shows that God will still use us even when we do His calling for the wrong reasons.

In Jonah 3:10 we see that God relented from pouring out His wrath on them

Jonah 3:10 ESV

10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Just like that rogue cow when she stays in the herd rather than run off and cause the herd to explode. She stayed and did not receive punishment, just like the Ninevites did not receive punishment when they turned.

I mention this point here because we have no idea what God may use us for if we will faithfully submit and go along with what He calls us to do.

God will do what God has set about to do even in our anger and frustration. He will use you whether you are happy or not. He will accomplish all He has set out to do without any worry of you wrecking it.

Why be like that rogue cow that is still mad after being penned even though she stayed with the herd. She charges at everyone and puts people on the fence and may even get someone down.

She is mad because she did what she was supposed to but does not like the results.

This is what we see with Jonah after the Ninevites repented.

We see that he is mad at the world.

Mad At The World

Now, Jonah is angry at God and gives us the reason for why he did not want to do this. Jonah 4:2

Jonah 4:2 ESV

2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

He knew the grace of God. He had experienced it with the large fish.

He was proud and should not have been proud. We should not be proud about anything because it is all of God. “Jonah’s own spiritual pride should have been humbled, of course, by the simple fact that he received what he did not deserve: mercy instead of judgment, deliverance instead of death. This should have changed Jonah profoundly. It should change us profoundly.” (Jay Sklar, “Jonah,” in Daniel–Malachi, ed. Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar, vol. VII, ESV Expository Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 410.)

But Jonah was bitter about the grace of God. He was angry that God forgave the Ninevites. He was mad that this happened and he was part of it. He wanted to die rather than live with this shame.

Have you ever felt that way about anything?

Have you ever felt that if you had to do something you would rather die than live with the possible shame that came along with it?

Maybe this is being nice to or hanging out with the kid no one else likes.

Maybe this is treating the guy who tries but just can’t get it with compassion rather than making fun of him.

Maybe this is being there and going above and beyond what the work calls for because you know this is necessary even though you will be called a brown nose or teachers pet.

All of these may bring shame to you if you let it, or it could bring glory and proper spiritual pride because you have served the Lord and done His work.

Jonah missed this point here. He was focused on the shame he felt because he helped those pagans who were not Jews.

So, God again gives him something to think about his actions. He allows a plant to grow up and give him shade then sends a worm to destroy it. (Jonah 4:6-8).

God then asked him if it was right for him to be angry over the loss of the plant and Jonah says emphatically “YES!!!” (Jonah 4:9).

God then makes His point by saying Jonah 4:10-11

Jonah 4:10–11 ESV

10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Jonah was shown he had more concern over his own welfare than those of another.

He was angry over the loss of the plant that gave him comfort than over the possible loss of thousands of people had he not told them about God and His judgment.

Isn’t this just like us.

We are embarrassed to tell people about Jesus because we may be made fun of.

We do not tell people because we feel we may offend them when we tell them the truth about sin.

We feel our comfort means more than going out and talking to a stranger.

We want to have what we have and not let the discomforts of caring about those outside God be our problem.

But they are our problem.

God calls us to go and share and we have the tendency to run like Jonah did.

We tend to flee the charge of giving the gospel to all or giving time to service to the church or ministries.

We flee serving the Lord because that will get in the way of what we want to do with our lives.

We feel that if we submit and serve the Lord fully we will lose out and miss so many good things, not realizing we will miss more than we know by not serving Him.

Do we think that the comforts we have that are not really any of our making but all of the Lord, more important than taking the same message to others so they can have eternal comfort?

That is a question we can ask ourselves as we come to the ending of this narrative and message.

Conclusion

In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch. He made application to Prior Richard at a local monastery, asking to be accepted as a contemplative and spend the rest of his life in the monastery. "Your Majesty," said Prior Richard, "do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been a king."

"I understand," said Henry. "The rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you."

"Then I will tell you what to do," said Prior Richard. "Go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you." When King Henry died, a statement was written: "The King learned to rule by being obedient." When we tire of our roles and responsibilities, it helps to remember God has planted us in a certain place and told us to be a good accountant or teacher or mother or father. Christ expects us to be faithful where he puts us, and when he returns, we'll rule together with him.