Called to wait

I am pouring through Adam Hamilton's latest book, The Call, and through 58 pages about the life of Paul, my hero in the Bible other than Jesus, and I was struck by one thing new or at least long forgotten.

Paul, then Saul, was knocked off the horse on the road to Damascus quite famously, then after being called by God, wound up in Tarsus living with his parents while in his mid-to-possibly late 20s and there he was for 10 years.

TEN YEARS.

Five times two.

A decade.

In the past 10 years, we've served nine churches, lived in six houses, moved like our pants were on fire five times.

And Paul, knocked off a horse, hearing a clear message and calling from Jesus, reprimanded for kicking against the goads, highly educated and highly motivated and highly prideful about his future, spent 10 years at home with Mama and Daddy, making tents.

Whew. That sets me to thinking.

What if I felt the call all those 17 years ago and for the first 10 years there were no appointments? Would I have waited for the right moment? Would I have been patient enough for a Barnabas (look this great man up in Acts sometimes) to come and find me and tell me that it's time to get going?

Would I have?

The answer is probably a short one. Nope. No, I wouldn't in all likelihood.

Heck, the answer is I have felt the call and the urge to go more often than not. Mary and I have been married 30 years this past April. We've lived in 10 houses or apartments in seven towns or cities. Always someone called. Almost always I said yes. A great part of that, as I was reminded yesterday while watching a mindless TV sports reporters talk show, is that someone is wooing you, someone is saying, "I want you here." And we go.

There was a time I got eight job offers in one hot summer long, long ago.

The point is this (or I think it i): All of us are called by God for what His needs are. Some answer that call. Some wait for that call, and then move when the moment arrives. Some blunder on ahead of God, clearing weeds and rocks off the path but accomplishing little in real ministry (or life, for that matter).

Do I think Paul felt wasted? Yep. You betcha. Imagine the man who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament making tents. Do I think he was telling everyone about Jesus? Do I think he was honing his theology? Do I think he was learning more about exhortation?

Yes, yes and yes.

But the point is he waited.

God is pretty explicit about this notion. Scriptures say, "Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. (And in case we didn't get it, it repeats) Yes, wait patiently for the Lord."

In that reading, from Psalm 27, I get the idea that 1) God really wants us to be patient; 2) it takes courage to do so."

Think about that a moment. It takes courage to be patient. Patience is not for the weak and the fearful.  Patience means going when WE think it's time. Lack of patience has caused many of a downfall, including myself on numerous occasions.

That's why one of my favorite passages in the Bible, written of course by Paul, says this: "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop perseverance. And perseverance develops strength of character and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with hope."

I could fire off a three or four-point sermon from that passage six times a week and never cover it all. But I'll center on the fact that problems and trial help us develop perseverance, and I think you could easily substitute patience there. Because patience does develop strength of character and character does develop confident hope.

Paul moved at the right time.
The right time was provided by a God who knows what tomorrow holds for us.
The right time produced the first church planter.
The first church planter was the first blogger on the planet.

And here we are.

This morning I'm not asking anyone to act, for a change. I'm asking that each and every reader examine where they feel they are in their walk with God. Have you felt his call? Have you answered it? What if that call is one to wait, not settle, but wait? Can you? Have you?