Called Up

(I actually wrote this quite some time ago, but I read it today and it applied to something I'm dealing with now. I thought it might help someone else, too.)

He comes home from another out-of-town game, sore from the game itself and the 50-mile trip back home on the squeaky bus with uncomfortable seats that jolted him every time the driver hit a pothole. He looks through the refrigerator of his garage apartment for something to eat, spying a note stuck under a magnet. It’s the one that he wrote himself to remember to call the manager at the supermarket in town to see if he can give him a job again in the offseason to pay the bills. At age 28, he was really hoping the last offseason would be the final one he would have to work.

He finally finds some leftovers from the Chinese food he had delivered a couple of days ago. It’s either that or yet another peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So he pops it in the microwave, grabs an ice pack from the freezer for his aching knee and collapses in the old recliner his dad gave him to use until he’s able to buy furniture. He starts to turn on the television when he pauses to think about his situation in life. When will he finally make the leap? After 11 years in the minor leagues, will he ever get a shot? Should he just give up?

Just then, the phone rings. He figures it to be a buddy on the team wanting to go out and do something fun. He doesn’t feel like it. The game and life have him pretty beaten up and he just wants to sulk at home, feeling sorry for himself. But when he answers the phone, he hears his team manager’s voice on the other end. “What did I do this time?” he’s thinking skeptically.

But the manager announces that he has good news, simply saying, “Son, pack your bags and get to the airport. You’ve been called up!”

Can you imagine the excitement he must feel? The long-awaited dream he’s had since a five year old playing tee ball is a reality. Who knows how long it will last? But right now it doesn’t matter. He’s going to the “Big Show.”

Then just as he is about to call his parents to give them the news, an old enemy creeps in – an enemy called doubt. The voice tells him he isn’t ready. It tells him he can’t succeed at that level, that he’s washed up, that he’ll only make a fool of himself. “Can I do it?” he thinks. “Maybe I am washed up.”

How foolish would it be for him to give up his opportunity because of some doubts? It’s the biggest opportunity of his life – would he forfeit it because the enemy convinces him he can’t do it?

How many times are we called to do something by God, but we don’t even try because we think we can’t? Our enemy, Satan, has us convinced that we shouldn’t even bother because we’ll never be able to accomplish the task. What a shame if we pass up on our own chance to do something for Christ just because Satan plants seeds of doubt!

Moses thought he was incapable of doing what God asked him to do as well. The more times God told him to go to Egypt to confront Pharoah, the more excuses Moses gave as to why he couldn’t. “But, Lord, who am I to do that?” “But, Lord, they may not believe me!” “But, Lord, I’m not a very good speaker.”

God had an answer for every objection, but they all boiled down to this: if God asks us to do something, He’s going to give us all we need to do it! You see, when we are called to serve the Lord in any capacity, we aren’t expected to have the ability to do it. God’s not going to give us something to do that He thinks we can do on our own. That would defeat the purpose of our dependence on Him.

Moses was right. He was incapable on his own. He was deficient. But he was able to tap into the greatest source of power, strength, and ability there is or ever will be. He could tap into the power of an Almighty God!

There are other examples from Scripture as well. Think about Paul for a minute. He had been a persecutor of Christians from the time he was a young man. Oh, he was very religious, well-educated, intelligent, well-spoken. He had all the ability to do what God called him to do when he turned to Christ on the road to Damascus. But what about his past?

Surely his Christian brothers would never believe anything he said. They might think it was a trick, or that he was simply making fun of them. They wouldn’t put much stock into anything he had to say after what he had done to them for so many years…would they?

And what about his peers, the people he served alongside all that time? They would surely think he’d gone mad! What influence could he have on them with his newfound Christianity? If he tried to witness to any of the people who knew him before, they wouldn’t believe him…would they?

But look at what Paul did with his life. He became one of the greatest Christian influences the world has ever known. And all because he did what God told him to do instead of questioning the past. Just as we can’t let our perceived inability to serve stop us from obeying, we also can’t let a broken past keep us from the task either.

I remember playing softball as a kid in the fifth grade. I had always wanted to play catcher. So one day we were practicing and the coach let me try my hand at catching. It was pretty disastrous. But one thing that saved me was that one of the guys from the high school who was helping us out stood behind me catching everything I missed, picking up the ball and throwing it back to the pitcher for me, and generally helping me to not look completely inept.

God does that for us. Sometimes our abilities aren’t what we think they should be to complete the task that lay before us. But God has our back. He catches what we miss. He makes the throws we are too weak to make. He keeps us from failing. He’s not going to ask us to do something and then let us fail at it. We just have to trust Him and depend on His strength and not our own.

So don’t feel inadequate or unequipped when God calls you to do some type of service for Him. This is what you’ve waited your whole Christian life to do. Your Lord is calling you to something greater, to a higher place of service, to the “Big Show.” Have confidence in His power and faith to know that He will see you through to its finish.

Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”