God’s call – Oh Lord Help Us

God would call us a thousand times if He has to. May we not ignore His call and surrender our lives to live for Him with reckless abandon.

A few weeks ago, while driving to the beach with our oldest granddaughter, we drove Gary, my husband a bit mad with blasting chick music. Since she and her sister were young, the three of us have jammed to the likes of Adele, Sara Bareilles, and of course, Taylor Swift. I even remember dancing around my family room holding their baby brother a few times… He’s now eleven!

Nevertheless, Gary surreptitiously turned down our tunes with his steering wheel control, (he needed earplugs, I suppose,) but when I noticed, I cranked it back up so that Anna and I could belt it out, singing with abandon to our old favorites.

We didn’t care who might be watching in passing cars or how we sounded, (although she is an accomplished musician who performs publicly). The two of us were just, well, jamming our hearts out.

Hello…

One of the all-time favorite songs that my daughter and granddaughters have joked around with, in the past few years is Hello, by Adele. It’s so melancholy that we naturally feel the need to overdramatize it when we mock-sing it.

Hello, it’s me
I was wondering if after all these years
You’d like to meet, to go over
Everything
They say that time’s supposed to heal ya
But I ain’t done much healing

Hello, can you hear me?
I’m in California dreaming about who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I’ve forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet

[Pre-Chorus 1]
There’s such a difference between us
And a million miles
[Chorus]
Hello from the other side
I must’ve called a thousand times to tell you
I’m sorry, for everything that I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be home
Adele, “Hello”

I know this has happened to you…

Earworm

Since our trip, this song WILL NOT LEAVE MY MIND!!! I can be vacuuming, applying makeup, planting flowers and what wafts through my head? “I must have called a thousand times…”

Oh, my sweet Lord! How can I rid myself of this song, which I used to enjoy, but has now become a pesky irritant?! My addled brain has gotten stuck in a groove that just might cause permanent damage!

Finally, recalling that God has a record of speaking in various and, to us, unusual ways, (Numbers 22:28, through a donkey; Exodus 3, through a burning bush) I finally stopped fighting the words in this song and began to listen. What in all that is righteous and good are You trying to say to me, Jesus?! Because, slow as I am to hear, SURELY You are speaking through this song.

I must have called a thousand times…

Those words played a loop in my head. Often, I ask God to speak to me about specific situations or decisions that need to be made. At times, I find myself pleading for direction. The truth is, He is speaking all the time. If there is a problem with communication, it’s on my end.

Are You Home?

Statistics reveal a lack of communication is one of the top complaints in couples seeking marriage counseling.

God has the same issue with us… He calls; we don’t answer…or pretend we didn’t hear: “Was that God or the devil?”

As Adele said in her song, “When I call you never seem to be home.”

I wonder if we don’t “meet (with God) to go over everything,” (Adele, verse 1), because unconsciously we fear He may require something of us which we aren’t willing to give. Or, perhaps He may want to tear down that invisible wall we erected around a deep wound, inflicted years ago.

Even the thought of God asking us to take these actions is too painful to contemplate, so we don’t answer His call…or abandon our will to the Father. We settle for His gifts and working for Him.

Abandon

In Mark 10:28, ESV, Peter proclaimed boldly:

“See, we have left everything and followed you.”

As a young man, Oswald Chambers wrote:

Our Lord replies in effect, that abandonment is for Himself, and not for what the disciples themselves will get from it. Beware of an abandonment which has the commercial spirit in it…Abandonment is not for anything at all. We have got so commercialized that we only go to God for something from Him, and not for Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don’t want You, I want myself; but I want myself clean and filled with the Holy Spirit; I want to be put in Your showroom and be able to say – ‘This is what God has done for me.’” …Abandonment never produces the consciousness of my own effort, because the whole life is taken up with the One to Whom we abandon.
My Utmost for His Highest

Oh Beloved, in moments of total honesty, stripped bare of our false piety and bangles of good works, can we truly accuse our Father of wanting to harm us? How can we entertain the notion that we can’t trust His goodness when He loved us enough to hold nothing back from us, not even His only Son?

Missed Call

Many years ago, Gary and one of our sons went to Russia on a two-week mission trip. We were never apart for that long, so I did not want to miss the one phone call he was going to make while they were gone. The other two kids and I were getting out of the car from church when we heard Gary leaving a message on the answering machine, (I told you it was years ago).

I was frantic to get in the door to catch him but was too late. Needless to say, I was very disappointed and cried. My oldest child thought I was being a bit dramatic, but I didn’t care. This was my Beloved. I loved and missed him; I needed to hear his voice. (He called again later.)

Apple of His Eye

Multiply that a gazillion trillion times and that is how the Father loves us. We are His Beloved, the apple of His eye.

For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you – for whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye…
Zechariah 2:8, NIV

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Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings, From the wicked who oppress me, from the deadly enemies who surround me.
Psalm 17:8-9, NKJV

I pray we won’t miss the times the Lover of our souls calls us to abandon our lives to Him in a fresh way. May we not expect Him to ‘call a thousand times,’ although He will. May we run to Him like a gazelle each time He whispers our name, and joyfully obey whatever He asks.

Do we not meet with God because we fear He will ask something of us? Or maybe He wants to tear down the walls we’ve built around pain? His call is for us to abandon our will for the Father’s. Click To Tweet

Annie Spratt

Loving our neighbor is more than loving the people directly next to us. It is loving all those whom God has created and has compassion for.

The dark was so encompassing on the cloudy night. It crept right up next to the young girl as she held tightly to her mother’s hand. They stumbled through the night desperately trying to keep up with the group that they prayed would lead them to freedom.

They were leaving behind a life of slavery and injustice. For over a year her mom had socked away a few coins from every odd job she could find. Her father had run ahead of them a few years before and had sent word that they should try and come. He had found a job, found a little house that he was sharing with some others who had escaped, and he missed them terribly. So a few weeks ago the little girl’s mom had given every penny she had saved to a group of men who promised to take them to freedom. And now here they were in the darkness, running across the rocky uneven terrain, stumbling, slipping, and praying for freedom.

The Darkness

That’s when the little girls life was turned upside down. The men who were “helping them” told her mother it was the little girl’s turn to help the men get more energy. The little girl was four years old. Mom screamed for her to run and then told the men she was happy to take on that responsibility, if they just let her girl go on her way. The little girl ran, hid behind a big rock and watched while a group of men did unspeakable things to her mother. They left her mother lying in the dirt. Torn and bloodied.

Even though there were many people in their group, no one spoke up. They turned their backs, covered their children’s eyes, and when it was over, kept walking through the darkness, leaving the little girl and her mother behind.

As day broke the mother moaned, got to her feet, took her daughter’s hand and kept walking. Now with no water, no clear sense of direction, and a broken spirit. They encountered another group later in the day. But were turned away because they couldn’t pay. One lady gave the little girl some water and a slice of bread though, and that kept them going for two days. That’s when they made it to the mighty river.

A Neighbor’s Help

The little girl’s mom told her that crossing the river was going to be tough, but after they crossed, freedom was on the other side. She took all their clothes, made a rope out of them and struggled across. Naked, broken, tired they trudged into the raging water. Barely half way across the little girl got dragged under. The mother, with her last burst of energy, yanked the rope to pull her daughter up.

From the other side a young man saw the two struggle. As fast as he could he ran down to the bank to help. He dragged the two out of the river. They didn’t speak the same language and couldn’t understand each other. The little girl was trying to cover her mother afraid of what another man would do to her. Thankfully this man was truly a helper. He wrapped the mom in his shirt and took them to his house, fixed them up as best he could without taking them to a doctor.

The Light of Neighbors

This was a story told to me by a fourth grader almost 15 years ago about how she and her mother came to our country. They lived in a little shack not far from the school and I had the pleasure of going to visit them several times. They were always so welcoming and kept their home open to anyone, any neighbor, who needed a meal. Can you imagine? Going through such horror and still opening your home to feed others. And let me tell you those tamales were the best I have ever had. The love in them was so evident.

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?

Jesus replied: ‘Love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets and on these two commandments.

Matthew 22:36-40, NIV

Neighbors are Good Samaritans

Jesus made it very clear that loving God is most important, but loving our neighbor is also important. In the story of the Good Samaritan, He reveals God’s definition of neighbor as not just someone who lives next door, or someone who has the same faith, or language as you.

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

^‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’

Luke 10:30-36, NIV

God’s Call to Our Hearts

In a world that is turned topsy turvy about who our neighbor is, let God clear your eyes and heart. We are all neighbors in His eyes. While we may have to live within man’s rules and laws, God’s law comes first.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13, NIV

Dear God,

Please help us be the hands and feet of Your church. Let love be our guiding light. Thank you for showing me stories of people who have lived through life’s worst fears and come through with Your love and grace shining through them. Your word has been an anchor in my life and shown me the way, even when the world around is so loud and confusing. Thank you for the map and light in the darkness. Please help those in crisis and help us all be more like the Samaritan.

Love,

chuttersnap

God's call

Abandon: Answering God’s Call to Surrender Our Lives