| Jennifer is
considering a job offer that 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 that 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 that 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 that 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--that 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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