Sorry, but I can't...
Maybe you’ve been there. I know I have. It can be one of the most feared statements you’ll ever hear. “Tom is looking for you.”
That phrase always sends chills down your spine because Tom is the one who fills vacancies and cares for all the odd needs in church. If Tom is looking for you that means Tom wants to ask you to do something in the church! Quick, start thinking of excuses, check your calendar, make sure your “no” is backed up by solid reasoning because you don’t want to lie in church.
“Hey, Mark, I was wondering if you could …” Tom’s voice gets drowned out by your own heartbeat racing and pounding in your ears. Not that it matters anyway. You’re not prepared to do anything. God didn’t make you that way.
“Oh, Tom, I’d love to, but I can’t this Wednesday. You see, my second cousin’s sister-in-law’s step brother’s girlfriend is having her dog tested for allergies and I promised her I’d take her.” Whew, thank God I saw her last weekend at the bar and I told her Wednesdays were always good for me.
“But Mark, the gathering is on Tuesday, so you should be good, right?”
Panic!
Ok, so my little scenario is completely hypothetical and utterly farfetched, but you know where I’m coming from. There is always that one person in church everyone avoids because he or she has accepted the burden of filling needs as they come up, and besides, you aren’t a leader or a preacher or anything. Tom should know you’re not ready for any kind of responsibility. You just want to be left alone, to attend on Sunday morning with all the rest of the SMOs (Sunday Morning Only) and get your divine credit for the week, while getting out of church in time to beat the Baptists to the buffet and get home for the start of the game. After all, Sunday is your day off, right? It may be the only day you get to relax after a long work week and a busy Saturday working around the house. Plus, if God wanted you to teach the class on Tuesday or lead the worship service on Wednesday or anything else, he would have prepared you for it. He would have made you want to do it. You would have been expecting the request, right?
Enter Samuel, Hannah, and Isaiah.
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” (Isa 6:8, NIV)
This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Isaiah served during the time of the kings of Israel, but it was also one of the many times the kings led Israel and Judah away from God. So by accepting the call to go and speak for God, Isaiah was literally taking his life into his own hands and trusting that God would clear the path for him to serve. Sure Isaiah was ready and willing to do whatever God called him to do, but do you think he really thought God would ask so much of him? Another of my favorite group of verses is found early in 1 Samuel.
“Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, ‘Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening’’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’” (1 Sam 3:8 – 10, NIV)
Samuel was just a boy. His mother Hannah was barren so in turn for giving her a child, she promised him to God upon his birth. Young Samuel spent his life serving Eli, the high priest of Israel. But Samuel was still just a child when God called him into service. Like Eli, Hannah didn’t balk when God asked everything of her and if anyone had an excuse not to answer God’s call, it was the child Samuel.
But to be frank, God didn’t care that Samuel wasn’t ready. He didn’t care that Samuel wasn’t looking to serve. All God cared about was what Samuel would do for His kingdom. And He doesn’t care about NASCAR, the NFL, or your boss’ propensity to schedule your travel on Sunday nights for early Monday meetings. If God can bring a coal to Isaiah’s lips and give him everything he needs to minister to the lost kings of Israel and Judah, if God can see Hannah’s pain and give her five more children along with the knowledge that her firstborn son will be the leader of God’s earthly kingdom, and if God can see Samuel not as a boy limited by age and knowledge, but as a Godly man leading God’s people – as the last High Priest of Israel, then God can handle your fear of speaking in public or praying out loud or whatever it is Tom asks of you.
You see, God doesn’t see you as a SMO checking your watch to beat the Baptists. He sees you as teaching the 7-11 year old girls class because that’s what He really made you for. It’s not easy. It’s not safe. It’s not even in your plans. But that’s why God does it…
…because you can’t.
(Photo courtesy of Six Gun Annie)