Jennifer
is considering a job offer which seems good from
every angle except one: she's uncertain how to
reconcile it with a past experience of guidance.
When Jennifer was offered her
current job as a legal secretary in Sacramento,
she was living in Tallahassee. She was a new
Christian then, and anxious to be certain about
God's will.
On a balmy May afternoon she
spent several hours walking a Gulf beach, praying
for God's guidance. After praying for about an
hour, she felt a surge of conviction that God
wanted her to accept the offer. This wonderful
feeling of assurance stayed with her for another
hour or so, as she continued to walk and pray.
That period of inspiration was the deciding point
for Jennifer, and she resolved to make the move
and take the job. She has thought back to that
time often while in Sacramento, and taken
reassurance from it that she is where God wants
her to be.
Now Jennifer has been offered a
new job with a law firm in Denver. She would like
to accept the offer. It's a better match for her
talents than her present position, and provides a
salary boost as well. Jennifer likes the attorney
who wants to hire her, and believes she would
work comfortably with him.
Yet Jennifer fears she would be
disobeying God by leaving Sacramento. Although
she has prayed much about it, she hasn't had an
experience of inspiration similar to the one she
had in Tallahassee. She has seen many
practical reasons why she should make this move.
She wonders if God may be guiding her through
them, and if it's okay to base her decision on
these factors alone. But the lack of a definite
sense of call to take this step is unsettling to
her. Is she obliged to stay in Sacramento until
God clearly tells her to leave?
A Common Predicament
Many Christians experience a
dilemma like Jennifer's. They struggle with how
to integrate past guidance they believe they've
received from God with new insights they've
gained into their potential, their interests, and
their emerging opportunities. Are they locked
into their past understanding of God's will? Does
it present it a binding call upon them? Or are
they free to consider a new direction for their
life?
Some, like Jennifer, have had an
episode of past guidance dramatic enough that
they wonder if they must stay committed to it
until God clearly tells them to change course.
Many others, who cannot recall a specific
experience of guidance, still have lived with an
understanding of God's will for their life for so
long that they feel uneasy considering any other
alternatives.
I've known more than a few
Christians who, when they were young--in junior
or senior high school, or even earlier--grew
convinced that God wanted them to devote their
life to a certain career, yet in college found
that this option didn't match their potential
very well. Discovering that there is a disparity
between what they believe God wills for them, and
what is realistic for them educationally, is
shattering to the idealism of some Christian
students. Even harder for some is finding that
their own interests have changed, and they are
now attracted to a different vocational dream
than the one they've long assumed was God's will.
I have personally gone through
two periods of career reassessment where I had
some difficulty letting go of a past
understanding of God's will. For over a year I
grappled with whether to shift from a career in
music to one in pastoring and teaching. I did
decide to make that change, but then, several
years later, wrestled with whether to leave a
pastoral position on a church staff to begin
Nehemiah Ministries. In both cases I had grown so
accustomed to a particular identity--first as a
musical performer, then as a pastor--that I
worried I'd be going against God's will by making
the change.
One thing that complicated my
decision to leave church ministry was that a
pastor friend had told me sincerely that he was
convinced God had created me to be a preacher. I
esteemed this man so highly, that his advice
seemed almost like a divine revelation to me.
While I know he simply meant to encourage me, and
not lock me in, by sharing his conviction with
me, it still became a hurdle I had to jump in
deciding to shift from church work to resource
ministry.
Binding Calls and Unfolding
Calls
Christians who find it hard to
reconcile a new direction that seems right for
their life with past guidance, usually respond in
one of several ways. Some feel compelled to wait
for God to give them further guidance so
convincing that they'll have no doubt he wants
them to make the change.
Others move ahead without such
guidance, but experience plenty of guilt in the
process.
Still others are spurred to
re-examine their basic assumptions about guidance
to see whether these have been realistic. Some
discover that they've been operating with
unreasonable ideas about how God guides--which
have led them to read too much into past
experiences of guidance, and to expect too much
guidance for present decisions. This reassessment
is liberating for them, for they realize that God
is giving them greater freedom to take a new
direction than they had assumed.
When Christians like Jennifer
find that a step which seems best for their life
now seems to conflict with past guidance from
God, they often are thinking of guidance as a
static process. They're assuming that God reveals
his will for some area of our life once and for
all, and that's it; we're then locked into that
understanding for a long time, perhaps
permanently.
Scripture, though, pictures God's
guidance as a dynamic reality. It shows
that he seldom reveals very much about his will
for our future, but lets us discover it step by
step as we move along. And purely practical
insights we gain into ourselves and our
opportunities are often as important in
understanding his will as more dramatic
experiences of guidance we may have. While he can
give us a call to do something which is binding
and non-negotiable, his calls--to vocations
especially--are often unfolding, and best
understood only as we are in motion. Appreciating
this aspect of how God guides can help us greatly
in understanding the relationship of past
guidance to present decisions.
Paul's Apostolic Call--The
Exception or the Rule?
Scripture does give examples of
God's mandating someone to follow a vocation
permanently as a life commitment. The one that
comes to mind most quickly, for most of us, is
his calling of Paul to be an Apostle. Paul begins
most of his letters with a reference to this
call, declaring that he is "called to be an
apostle" or "an apostle by the will of
God" (Rom 1:1, 5; 1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal
1:1; Eph 1:1; Col 1:1; 1 Tim 1:1; 2 Tim 1:1; Tit
1:1-3). He clearly understood this role as an
indelible stamp from God upon his life. Most
likely he received this commission by direct
revelation from God during his Damascus Road
experience.
Many Christians assume that
Paul's apostolic call is a model for how they
should expect to personally receive God's
guidance. They assume that if they're spiritually
mature enough, and sufficiently alert to God, he
will give them a call to follow a certain career
that's as clear and distinct as the one he gave
to Paul. He will then expect them to stay on this
course until further notice, even for life. This
same assumption leads many to believe that
they've actually received such a call if, like
Jennifer, they've experienced a dramatic or
unusual episode of guidance.
Paul, however, never claimed that
his experience of calling was normative for other
Christians. Nowhere in his writings does he teach
that anyone should expect such guidance in
vocational decisions, nor do we find him anywhere
counseling someone to seek this level of
guidance. Rather, he encouraged Christians, in
determining God's will for their lives, to
consider practical factors--such as their gifts,
the opportunities open to them and the counsel of
other people.
Paul's Typical Experience with
Guidance
But how would Paul counsel
someone like Jennifer, who believes she has been
called by God to be where she is, but now sees
compelling reasons to take a new direction with
her life? I believe we find an important clue in
an episode from Paul's life described in Acts
16:8-40. It begins with Paul's receiving guidance
from God dramatic enough that he perceives it as
a call. Yet at several points he responds to this
call differently than he did to the one to be an
apostle, even revising his understanding of it as
he moves ahead.
Luke, the author of Acts, who is
traveling with Paul, describes a vision Paul has
while they are visiting Troas: "During the
night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia
standing and begging him, 'Come over to Macedonia
and help us.' After Paul had seen the vision, we
got ready at once to leave for Macedonia,
concluding that God had called us to preach the
gospel to them" (vv. 9-10).
We're told that Paul has a vision
at night--possibly a dream--of a man in Macedonia
pleading for his help. Paul and his companions
conclude from this that they are called by God to
go to Macedonia and evangelize. This,
interestingly, is the only occasion in the New
Testament, outside of references to Paul's
apostolic commission, where he is described as
"called" by God to do something.
We would logically assume that
since Paul received such exceptional guidance to
go to Macedonia, his experience will parallel his
vision exactly once he arrives: he'll find a man
ministering there who is desperate for his aid,
and devote himself to helping this man evangelize
the Macedonians. We look in vain, however,
throughout the detailed description of Paul's
visit to Macedonia in Acts 16 for any reference
to this man.
Instead, soon after arriving in
Macedonia, Paul and his party encounter a group
of women praying by a river, and one remarkable
woman, Lydia, who is leading them. Paul persuades
Lydia to become a Christian. She then convinces
Paul and his team to stay at her home. The fact
that they accept Lydia's offer is good evidence
that Paul has concluded he isn't going to find
the man of his vision, for otherwise he probably
would be holding out for the opportunity to lodge
with him.
Paul, then, makes a significant
revision of his "call." What's most
interesting is that, while Paul's initial
guidance to go to Macedonia came through a
supernatural vision, his change of direction
resulted from practical insight--his discovery
that Lydia and her friends were available for
ministry, and that the man of his vision,
apparently, wasn't to be found. Paul seemed to
place as much weight on such practical factors in
understanding God's will as he did upon direct
revelation.
One other logical assumption we
might make is that, because Paul was prompted to
go to Macedonia by a vision which he regarded as
a special call, he would be obliged to stay there
for a long period of time--at least until God
gave him equally dramatic guidance to leave. Yet
after a tumultuous episode with some Macedonian
businessmen, who fear Paul's ministry is hurting
them economically, the town officials ask Paul to
leave--and he agrees. In all, Paul stayed in
Macedonia probably only several months. And his
decision to move on was based not on further
dramatic guidance, but on purely practical
considerations.
God's Guidance Through Our
Filters
From Paul's Macedonian call,
then, we learn several vital lessons about
guidance. First, the fact that we might receive
dramatic or supernatural guidance doesn't
necessarily mean we will fully understand the
content of that guidance. Nor does it mean that
God has necessarily spoken his final word to us
on a matter. Some revising of our understanding
may be needed as we move ahead. We interpret
God's guidance, like anything else, through our
own filters; we may grasp some parts of it
correctly, but misunderstand others, and need to
rethink our conclusions as he enlightens us
further.
I suspect, too, that Paul's
Macedonian vision--as is typical with dreams--was
at least partly symbolic. God may have intended
it more as inspiration to get him moving in the
right direction, than as a revelation of exact
events that would take place. We shouldn't
discount the possibility that an inspiration or
epiphany we experience is more symbolic than
factual. It may be God's means of moving us
forward, yet not a precise revelation of what
will take place, or what will be required of us.
Our future will still take many twists and turns
which aren't apparent yet, and we will need to
look to God often for fresh guidance about what
to do.
Paul's experience also teaches us
an important lesson about the role of practical
thinking in guidance, and its interplay with more
dramatic experiences of guidance we might have.
While God may direct us on occasion through
supernatural guidance, he more typically reveals
the details of his will for our lives through
practical information. He has given us a mind,
and he expects us to use it! Logical conclusions
we arrive at, through observing the circumstances
of life, can be at least as important in
understanding God's will as the insight that
comes through exceptional guidance. And while God
may lead us to take an important step with our
life through a special call, he may also expect
us to modify our understanding of it through
practical insight as we move forward.
Paul's experience also
demonstrates that God's calls can have their time
limits. In the case of Paul's visit to Macedonia,
the time limit was fairly brief. This suggests
that even if God gives us a dramatic call to do
something, the point may come when he expects us
to make a practical decision to change
directions. While he can give us a special call
to move on, it's just as likely he will expect us
simply to use good judgment in making this
choice.
Reaching the Right Conclusions
Paul's call to go to Macedonia,
then, differed significantly from his apostolic
call. When God called Paul to become an Apostle,
it appears he told him once and for all that he
was to fulfill this role for life. This call
conveyed a permanent status to him. Paul's
Macedonian call, on the other hand, was less
precise, and served mainly to propel him to go to
Macedonia. Only as he moved forward did the
nature of his responsibility in Macedonia become
clear, and the time commitment involved.
Scripture, then, gives us
pictures of two types of calls God bestows on
Christians--the one clear and binding, the other
unfolding.
But how should we determine if
guidance we receive is meant to place a binding
call on our life, or is part of an unfolding one?
The answer, I believe, has to do with the clarity
and intensity of the guidance. Paul's call to
apostleship likely came through his Damascus Road
experience. On Damascus Road, and in the days
following, Paul heard God's audible voice clearly
and distinctly. He had no question who was
speaking to him, or about the details of what God
was instructing him to do. Moreover, the event
was remarkably intense, leaving Paul blinded for
several days. God also provided confirmation of
his guidance, and further instruction, through
Ananias, whom he commissioned to heal Paul of his
blindness and counsel him.
Paul's Macedonian vision, on the
other hand, was a much briefer, less intense
experience. The guidance it conveyed was also
less clear than that which came through his
Damascus Road experience. Luke notes that after
Paul had the vision, those in his party concluded
that God had called them to preach the gospel
there. The fact that they reached a conclusion
about what to do indicates that they had some
discussion about Paul's vision and its
implications; the vision required some
interpretation, in other words.
Even the most dramatic episodes
of guidance which you or I receive usually are
more similar to Paul's Macedonian vision than to
his Damascus Road experience. If that. While we
may occasionally have a dream so unusual that it
seems like special guidance from God, our
guidance experiences are more typically like
Jennifer's on the beach. We have an
inspiration--a "Eureka-I've-found-it"
moment of insight into what we should do. Yet we
haven't heard an audible voice, or experienced
some other lucid revelation of guidance. We have
merely had an impression of what God wants us to
do.
God may be giving us important
guidance through this impression, to be sure.
Still, it's an impression, coming through our own
sensors, and subject to all the human factors
that can skew our understanding. It's always a
safe rule of thumb in such cases to assume that
our grasp of God's will is partial at best, and
will need some revision as we move forward.
We should expect that if God
gives us a binding call to do something, his
guidance will be so distinct and emphatic that
we'll have no doubt he has spoken to us, and no
question about what he's telling us to do. Less
intense experiences of guidance, such as a moment
of inspiration or a dream, should be regarded as
part of an unfolding call. They are part of the
enlightenment God is using to steer us in the
right direction. Yet we will still need plenty of
further guidance as we put our feet in motion.
Staying Flexible and Staying
Faithful
Nothing we're saying about the
importance of staying flexible with guidance, to
be sure, gives us a license to break commitments
to others, or to be flighty in the way we live
our life. Any time we decide to take a fresh
direction with our life, we need to give the new
situation a fair chance before considering
changing course again. And we always need to look
carefully at whether we've made commitments to
others--explicit or implicit--which should be
fulfilled before we allow ourselves permission to
move on.
Some vocational roles require you
to promise to serve in them for a specific period
of time. Examples include many missionary and
ministry positions, where others may be depending
heavily upon you to keep your commitment. If you
have made such a pledge of service, you should
only consider leaving early under dire
circumstances (a serious health problem, for
instance), or if those who've employed you are
willing to release you.
Yet even when we've given a
situation a fair chance and wouldn't be violating
commitments by moving on, we may still wonder if
we must remain bound to a past understanding of
God's will, and not allow ourselves to consider
new options. In this case, understanding how
God's calls are often unfolding can keep us from
restricting ourselves unnecessarily.
Jennifer, for instance, has
certainly given her job in Sacramento a
reasonable investment of her time, and isn't
being flighty by considering a change. I believe
that Paul would counsel her to take the job in
Denver. He would tell her that the guidance she
received to move to Sacramento was important. Yet
it wasn't meant to lock her in forever, nor was
it God's final word on her professional life. It
was, in fact, necessary for her to move to
Sacramento to be in a position to then receive
the offer from Denver, and to be able to
understand why it's now the right direction for
her to take.
I believe that Paul would counsel
any of us who are in a situation similar to
Jennifer's to be flexible and open to the
possibility that God has new horizons for us.
Paul himself showed remarkable flexibility in his
odyssey in Acts 16.
His example demonstrates, too,
that it's God's nature to bring new adventure
into our lives. During our lifetime, he gives us
many fresh experiences and challenges, to
stimulate us to grow and to realize our potential
for Christ. A certain desire for adventure is
essential if we're to be alert and open to the
best opportunities God makes available for us.
We can have too much wanderlust,
to be sure. We can yearn for fresh experience so
much that we have difficulty keeping commitments,
and fail to enjoy the simple routines of life.
Yet the opposite danger is
equally real--that we don't desire adventure
enough, become too stuck in the inertia of life
and resistant to change. Paul, I believe, shows a
healthy balance in the many examples from his
life in the New Testament. He longed to grow and
to experience all the new vistas God had for him.
Yet he was equally determined to be faithful to
his commitments, and to find joy in life's
ordinary pleasures.
We should pray that God gives us
this same balance in our own outlook. When
accompanied with an understanding of how he
guides us step by step, it will keep us pliable
and open to his best, as his plan for our life
unfolds.
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