As his clear blue eyes searched mine, this question came with quiet earnestness from a fine young man in one of our senior colleges: "How can I know and recognize God's call to the ministry?" It was toward the end of a Week of Prayer. I had preached that morning on the words of Paul, spoken as he lay stricken in the dust of the Damascus road, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" A number of students had sought interviews about their spiritual experience; and John, a college senior, now faced me with this question. I could see it was causing him considerable concern. He had a deep urge to be used of God in the service of souls, but with- it he also had a 'great sense of his own inadequacy. He was not sure that God was calling him. How could he tell?
Because I have found many young men here and there in churches and colleges facing this same problem, I make bold to record some of the things I tried to say in seeking to answer John's question.
Today we do not get the assurance of God's clear call as easily as did Gideon when he spread out the fleece of wool. (Judges 61: 36-40.) But the call of God is brought home in divers manners to the hearts of those who are willing to make their lives the instruments of His purpose. To some it is communicated with the directness of a command that admits of no refusal, in an overpowering sense of the world's need for the truth which is in Christ. Thus the poet expresses it:
"Then with a rush, the intolerable craving Shivers throughout me like a trumpet call: Oh to save these! to perish for their saving, Die for their life, be offered for them all.
"Quick, in a moment, infinite forever, Send an arousal better than I pray: Give me a grace upon the faint endeavor, Souls for my hire, and Pentecost today."
—W. H. MYERS.
To others the call is less direct, their decision issuing from the honest weighing and balancing of advice, capacities, and circumstances. The voice of the Lord calling laborers into His harvest comes to men by every conceivable channel. Moses heard that voice at the burning bush. It was in the temple courts at Shiloh that Samuel heard the call, and God spoke to Amos as he followed the flock.
In whatever manner the call comes the worker for God needs to. Have a real sense of vocation. This will give certainty and authority to his message. Perhaps one of the first signs of the heavenly call is an inward conviction or prompting to share one's faith and experience in God with others. As the worker responds this grows into a passion for souls, and there comes an urgency which cries, "Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" i Cor. 9:16.
With this inner call there will also be an outward call. God does not give us a task for which we are obviously unfitted. He will endow the one He calls with that competence, or at least potential ability for the work, which will constitute an evidence to others of the call to preach. Writing to a friend who was in doubt as to whether God was calling him to preach, John Newton, the hymn writer, suggested that he consider three things:
"A call must include, first, a warm and earnest de sire to be employed in this service. But besides this readiness to preach, there must in due season appear some competent sufficiency as to gifts, knowledge, and utterance. Surely, if the Lord sends a man to teach others, He will furnish him with the means. That which finally evidences a proper call is a corresponding opening in providence, by a gradual train of circumstances pointing out the means, the time, the place, of actually entering upon the work."
A man who persists in doing a work for which the church is unable to see that he has the requisite gifts may be neglecting some other work for which he is more fitted. The story is told of a man who went before the leaders of his church and earnestly informed them that he had seen written across the sky the letters "G. P. G." He felt that this was a personal message to him, and that it meant, "Go Preach Gospel." But a leader of deeper discernment, knowing this brother's capacities, submitted that the letters might more truly be interpreted as "Go Plow Ground." C. H. Spurgeon once truly remarked that there is many a poor preacher who is a good farmer spoiled. The Lord guides the leaders of the church in choosing those called to labor in this sacred work
"The fact that one can pray and talk well is no evidence that God has called him. . . . The question whether this one_ or that one should devote his time to labor for souls, is of the deepest importance, and none but God can decide who shall engage in the solemn work. There were good men in the apostles' day, men who could pray with power and talk to the point; yet the apostles, who had power over unclean spirits and could heal the sick, dared not with merely their wisdom set one apart for the holy work of being mouth piece for God. They waited unmistakable evidence of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. I saw that God had laid upon his chosen ministers the duty of deciding who was fit for the holy work."—Testimonies, vol. i, pp. 208, 209.
And yet, though called and fitted for the work, the true laborer for God will feel woe fully inadequate as he faces the task; He will feel like Moses, who said, "but, Lord, I am no speaker, I never have been and I am not now, not even since thou hast spoken to thy servant; I am slow of speech, I have no command of words." Ex. 4:10. We are told:
"Those whom the Lord blesses with power and success in His work do not boast. They acknowledge their entire dependence on Him, realizing that of themselves they have no power. With Paul they say, 'Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament.' "—Acts of the Apostles, p. 328.
After all, we are dependent not upon our own but upon God's enabling. If we should wait until we felt that we were ready, we would probably never start. It is as we begin to serve that we grow adept at serving. Many of the most effective preachers, missionaries, and teachers in the cause of God stumbled and staggered in the beginning. One of the most successful evangelists of our generation said to me one time, when I remarked upon his self-possession and facility of speech, "Though I have been preaching for almost forty years, I have never faced a congregation without actual fear. It is not until I become lost in the giving of my message that I begin to feel at ease."
It is truly a solemn responsibility that one accepts upon entering the ministry, to proclaim a life-and-death message to perishing men. It was this sobering thought that led one of our older ministers to say, "If you can by any means keep out of the ministry, do so." We do not enter this sacred calling as we would any other lifework or profession. Not merely is the question one of personal interest or desire, but most important of all, the question must be, "Is God calling me?" The minister deals with the souls of men. His results are of greater value than the lifework of any other man. If you are sure that there are no ulterior motives of the baser sort, and that you are not drifting into the ministry because of any associations or environment; if you feel that inner urge that you are confident is the voice of God, you have no alternative. You go. And in the work of God you will receive the final proof of your di vine calling. When a man has a call the Holy Spirit will make it effectual, and that worker will reveal in his fruitage that he is thus honored of God.
"The conversion of sinners and their sanctification through the truth is the strongest proof a minister can have that God has called him to the ministry. The evidence of his apostleship is written upon the hearts of those converted, and is witnessed to by their renewed lives."—Ibid,
Being sure of the call of God, you will go on, and no difficulties will keep you back. Disappointments may come your way, and doors may seem to be closed; but in spite of all these things, if you are really called of God, you will triumph over them, and find your place in the greatest work in the world. The need is great; the men are comparatively few. God is seeking men who, knowing how tremendous a cost it will be to do the work as He wishes it to be done, are willing to go on giving all that they are and can ever hope to be to His service.
Be sure of the call first. Other things will follow in due time.
