Voice of God - Calling

The ministry may be one of the few if only career in life where the success, outcome and benefits are measured by eternity and not the comforts of this world. It beckons you to let go of dreams, desires, goals, and personal pursuit in the interest of a Kingdom unknown to most in this world. How does a person sacrificially yield their plans and destiny to what cannot be seen and a reward promised by an ancient manuscript? Yet, I have found this is actually what happened in my life. Personal aspirations to be the Chief Executive Officer of a New England Bank, to gain financially an independence and wealth I did not experience growing up, searching for status and all the materialism that engulfed the eighties generation. Except the voice of God!

In Hebrew, the word qol - means voice, sound or noise. Also in Hebrew, the name “Eloyim” means the God who is one which indicates the plurality of the Godhead we understand as Trinity. Combined we come to know as the voice of God - or the triune God calling to us. This is the voice that called out to Noah to build an ark, to Abraham to leave the land of his birth and go in search of a land promised to him, to Jacob to trust God when he brought his family down to Egypt, to Moses to go to the people of Israel and set them free from Egypt, to Joshua to lead the army of Israel in silence around the city of Jericho for six days, to Samuel to lead the nation of Israel even though they wanted a King, to Ezekiel to speak to a rebellious nation and prophesy to dry bones. Elijah experienced this voice:

1 Kings 19:11–13 NLT

11 “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

This is the voice of God that beckoned to me on at least four marked occasions in my life. The first when I was a child around eight years old. A missionary from Africa came on a Sunday night to church and spoke over an hour sharing a slide show of how thieves came to rob he and his family and tried to kill them. His wife fought back and killed one of them and had to endure an unjust trial. He had glass jars with fetal monkeys and all kinds of exotic things. Some how in that night I heard the voice of God call out to me to serve him with my whole life.

On a second occasion, when I was around twelve