I love when the Bible includes “human” moments. Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, and Mary each respond to God’s calling in ways we can relate to and learn from. I think these examples teach us about ourselves and about God.
Facing the Burning Bush, after “the place where you stand is holy ground” and “I am the God of your ancestors”… Moses and the Lord have the following exchange.
4 But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”
Exodus 4
2 Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.
3 “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.
4 Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.
5 “Perform this sign,” the Lord told him. “Then they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.”
6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out again, his hand was white as snow with a severe skin disease.[a] 7 “Now put your hand back into your cloak,” the Lord said. So Moses put his hand back in, and when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body.
8 The Lord said to Moses, “If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the second sign. 9 And if they don’t believe you or listen to you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on the dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground.”
10 But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”
11 Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”
13 But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”
14 Then the Lord became angry with Moses. “All right,” he said. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look! He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you.
The remarkable thing about this passage to me is not that Moses, despite the holy moment, tries to wiggle out of the call. That feels so true to me! There have been so many times when I tried to excuse myself. “I’m sorry, please send someone else… Please, anyone else!” What’s remarkable to me about this passage is that the God doesn’t give up on Moses. What a reassurance! God even agrees to give Moses a helper in his brother Aaron…but Moses still has to go! Often we need God to insist – you can have help but you have to do this. I’m so thankful that God insists. The things I would have missed in life if my first round of fear and excuses worked!
In the previous chapter, Elijah literally called down fire from heaven and ended a three year long drought! It’s a moment of triumph. But instead of celebrating, we find Elijah fleeing into the wilderness to hide for his life.
9 There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
1 Kings 19: 9-18
10 Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”
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?”
14 He replied again, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”
15 Then the Lord told him, “Go back the same way you came, and travel to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive there, anoint Hazael to be king of Aram.16 Then anoint Jehu grandson of Nimshi[b] to be king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from the town of Abel-meholah to replace you as my prophet. 17 Anyone who escapes from Hazael will be killed by Jehu, and those who escape Jehu will be killed by Elisha! 18 Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!”
There are three things that really stand out to me in this passage.
First, Elijah is so human here. He’s come down from the high of performing miracles in the previous chapter, the confidence and – dare I say – sassiness are gone now. Instead he feels totally alone and afraid for his life. How often have I read the news or listened to people talk politics, only to feel so desperately isolated (not that my experience is in any way comparable to being hunted for my life).
Second, when God comes to Elijah, God is not in the windstorm… God is not in the earthquake… God is not in the fire. In our current age, we’re constantly bombarded by media that jerks at our emotions. Pundits arguing over which side is more wrong. Wars and rumors of wars. Friends and family severing ties over political litmus tests. Congregations breaking apart. Photos of migrant children drown in the Mediterranean sea. Famines. Floods. Earthquakes. So many things that deserve attention, that deserve our response… But, while the internet has made the world more connected than ever before, we as individuals don’t have the capacity to give it all the attention it deserves. One of my friends shared this excerpt (haven’t read the book myself but I liked the quote) from Jesus Mean and Wild on Facebook, “One of the greatest dangers to American Christianity is the idolization of self. To want to make every scripture about you. To place yourself as the champion and the hero is to remove Christ from His position. Here’s the reality, the Gospel is about Christ and your need for Him. Not the other way around.” We definitely have a part to play in the troubles engulfing the world, but it’s a personal part that requires discernment. When God did speak to Elijah, God came in the silence. If we’re focused on the whirlwind, the earthquake, the fire… We’re not listening for that still, small voice. It’s important to take time in the silence to listen.
Third, I love how specific God is in this passage. Often, I’ve experienced calling not as some vague sense of purpose but rather as something shockingly specific. Elijah gets step by step instructions from God here and the reassurance that 7,000 faithful will be set aside. Seeing Prosperity theology destroy so many people’s faith has made me afraid of praying for or believing in specifics. But in my experience God doesn’t always deal in vague “go do something good somewhere” callings that leave the details up to us and instead delivers specific “you need to go do this thing for this person/community/issue.”
Some of my favorite scripture comes from Isaiah but his calling shows his human side.
6 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,
Isaiah 6: 1-8
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
When confronted by God, I’ve often withdrawn in shame instead of embracing the call. “It can’t be right for me to lead/serve/preach/mentor/etc because I’m not a good enough person.” Isaiah goes through an extreme version of this self doubt but the seraphim resolves that in such a delightfully simple way. There’s no argument that Isaiah isn’t a bad person or that doesn’t have “unclean lips”, instead there’s a ceremony and his sins are forgiven. God eliminates the roadblock that was keeping Isaiah focused on himself and empowers Isaiah to refocus on the call. As I quoted in the Elijah section above, “One of the greatest dangers to American Christianity is the idolization of self.” It’s not about our self worth. . If God is calling then it’s up to us to answer, not to second-guess God’s decision to call to us.
In sharp contrast to the three examples above, I wanted to also share My Soul Cries Out / The Canticle of Turning. The Plains Mennonite Children’s Sunday School sang it for the congregation on Palm Sunday and in the lead up practiced it almost every Sunday this Spring. My not quite two year daughter has been waddling around singing this song for most of 2019 – it’s quickly became our unofficial anthem for moving to Cambodia.
The words are adapted from the Magnificat / Mary’s song of Praise in the gospel of Luke. Mary is often portrayed as meek and mild, but this passage and the songs adapted from it show another side of her. Mary accepts the Angel Gabriel’s call and sees her taking part in something greater than herself – she rejoices that God has “filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands” and “has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.” Mary is ready to join God in turning the world around! And I think that response is also very human. When God enters our lives we can be overwhelmed with jubilation and ready to join God in righting all wrongs! What a wonderful feeling! We just need to remember, as Mary is careful to state, that God is the one turning the world around. We have a part in play but we’re not the main actor.
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