The Calling of God

God has the responsibility to demonstrate that He is righteous and make amends for people being tricked, duped, deceived and being born into a world of unrequested suffering and death.  Nobody chooses to be born into this world that we live. All are born into a culture that has its own language and customs.

 As each person grows towards biological maturity, each person is cultured by its social environment and psychologically conditioned by daily interpersonal relations with significant others, besides parents and older siblings. Intellectual development can be fostered by curiosity or stunted by impoverished surroundings and permissions. Nevertheless, each child begins to think at some stage about what is happening, whether it is approved or disapproved, and learns to project possibilities that could take place, even if it is only from touching a stove's hot plate or burning piece of wood. Language being the quintessential feature that distinguishes humans from other creatures.

During the day we hear more sounds than at night. Yet at night we often become more cognizant of the sounds that we hear than what we are during the day. Away from the hustle and bustle of cities, during the day the sounds of creatures are readily heard and don't become muffled with all the other noise going on, such as trucks, cars, motorbikes, drills, chainsaws, mowers, etc. Still, the night brings different sounds to those heard during the daylight hours, which often seem louder and more demanding of attention.  For instance, living on the twentieth floor of higher, the daytime traffic is background noise that goes unnoticed. After midnight in the earlier hours of the morning, when there's virtually no traffic, motorbikes or loud vehicles can be heard even when five miles away. 

What is interesting is that the Psalmist indicates that the sounds of God's Creation are equated to His call for humans to become mindful of Him. Unfortunately, too many are busy doing activities that they believe exclude the need for God.

The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.  (Psalm 19:1-4b)

The call of God goes out through Creation as it testifies of Him. The Creator exists. In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Not only is the God's voice calling us to look to Him all day every day, the word of faith is nearby, even in our hearts and on our lips.  The ability to respond to the call of God is ours. Unfortunately, because we are sidetracked so often, we become hardened to God's voice. This hardening is subtle. Like the proverbial frog sitting in a pot of water that his being heated by a flame, eventually it finds its legs being cooked and unable to get out of the pot. The frog simply gets used to the warm sensation. Likewise we get used to becoming deaf concerning the voice of God.

The Apostle Paul rhetorically asks questions as he provides answers, when writing about how God blesses those who call upon Him, and how people can hear about Him.

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him.  For, “every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? 

And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?

And how are they to hear without a preacher?  

And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!”

But they have not all obeyed the gospel; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”

So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ.

But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”

Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” (Romans 10:12-20)

God is calling everyone to come to Him but not all respond. There are numerous reasons for this. Among these reasons are:

• They may hear the call but are feeling too lazy to respond at the time.
• They might acknowledge the call but their attention is directed elsewhere. 
• They may hear the call and, because they other appointments, think about what they heard and decide to respond later, only to forget.
• They may hear the call, respond initially, but feel ill and lie down.
• They may be too busy to respond. 

The call of God is also internal. Our conscience, that inner recognition of right from wrong that we all possess, prompts us to look to God. 

When we see actions that disgust us; when we recognize injustice; we stand against the bully to protect the weak; when we help the downtrodden because we care, when we share with the one who has not; we can be assured that God is near, assessing our thought, recording our actions, for if we are merciful, we shall receive mercy. 

Our hearts tell us that what we do to others, may, or may not, be what we would like done to us. In our discomfort, in our disgust, in our pain, in our isolation, in our confusion, in our desperation for truth to exist, to see justice executed, the call of God is there. His voice may be felt, even though His speech is too soft to hear and His words misunderstood. The pangs of conscience may be enough to recognize that being accused for doing wrong is too much to withstand, especially when rationalization of one's actions is insufficient to excuse oneself.

When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them (Romans 2:14-15)

The Apostle Paul (when known as Saul of Tarsus) was blinded by the Light. The Lord of Life spoke to him, saying, "Does it hurt you to kick against the goads (pricks)?" (Acts 26:14).

In respect to this, Elliot's Commentary for English Readers states:

The goad did but prick more sharply the more the ox struggled against it....We ask what lesson the words brought to the mind of Saul. What were the “pricks” against which he had been “kicking”? The answer is found in what we know of the facts of his life. There had been promptings, misgivings, warnings, which he had resisted and defied. Among the causes of these, we may well reckon the conversion of the friend and companion of his youth (see Note on Acts 4:36), and the warning counsel of Gamaliel (Acts 5:34-39), and the angel-face of Stephen (Acts 6:15), and the martyr’s dying prayer (Acts 7:60), and the daily spectacle of those who were ready to go to prison and to death rather than to renounce the name of Jesus. In the frenzy of his zeal he had tried to crush these misgivings, and the effort to do so had brought with it discomfort and disquietude which made him more “exceedingly mad” against the disciples of the Lord. Now he learnt that he had all along, as his master had warned him, been “fighting against God,” and that his only safety lay in the surrender of his own passionate resolve to the gracious and loving Will that was seeking to win him for itself. 

Besides what Elliot's Commentary says, the issue for Saul was that he was conflicted by trying to obey the commandment to "honor your father and mother" which is the first commandment with a promise (Ephesians 6:2). This is the commandment that deceived Saul (Romans 7:10). Saul excused his sins but his conscience kicked hard inside because he also knew that it was a sin to murder people (Exodus 20:10). Saul confused upholding and honoring the traditions of his fathers with honoring his father, (cp. Galatians 1:13-14 with Acts 26:10-11). 

Why would Saul have misconstrued the tradition of the fathers with honoring his father. For the sole reason that from a young age he had been sent him to Jerusalem to be trained by the Pharisees according to their traditions (Acts 22:3), which Jesus said were held in such regard that they were honored even though in doing so the commandment of God was transgressed (Matthew 15:1-3).

Saul, as Paul the Apostle, may have considered himself righteous according to the law when a persecutor of the Church (Philippians 3:6), but that was only because of his ignorance. Fortunately, God overlooks our ignorance (Acts 17:30). 

Saul would have been weighed up by the Lord God, who saw his zeal for what he though was right, even though he had believed a lie in the hope of receiving fulfillment of a promise that was written by the Finger of God at Mt Sinai. God saw that the young man was zealous but misguided because like so many people, they grow up believing the traditions and customs of society are bona fide. Only when our conscience pricks and we begin to feel uneasy about some of the things that we are doing, does the call of God begin to intensify. 

The innermost parts of every individual is where the spirit of every person resides. This spirit enables us to discern right from wrong, good from evil, truth from error. Our spirit is also known as the Lamp of the Lord, for God searches our innermost parts, our secrets, our hidden sins, discerning the difference between what is habitual sin and what is a one off. He appraises our fears and hates, our attitudes and our acts of kindness, our acts of goodness and our willingness to forgive or harbor a grudge.

The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts. (Proverbs 20:27)

Though the spirit of the man God searches the hearts of every person. No one is except. Whoever responds to their conscience becomes more sensitive to the call of God. Whoever hardens their conscience become less responsive to the call of God. Hence, we read: "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven" (Mathew 5:3). 

The spirit of man being where his thoughts reside (1 Corinthians 2:11), and without thoughts their is no knowledge. Even if the spirit of man is programmed to think, to discern right from wrong, just as is required of software, input is required. This begins as a child. Instead of computer language, children learn the language that their parents speak. Eventually, children begin to discern what is right to do and what is wrong. The child trustingly does as it is taught and believes what it is told. However, what the child is taught may not be in accordance to the ways of God, but in accordance to the ways of this world and the traditions and customs of its forbears.

Not having too much knowledge of the world and its ways and being filled with the philosophies and theologies and traditions of men, may give the impression that a person is ignorant and simple, yet not before God. How much easier is it for these ones to respond to the call of God. Having misconceptions about life and false beliefs concerning what God requires not only gives a distorted conscious but makes it easier to harden the heart to the truth. This is why Jesus exulted in saying:

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes;  yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.  Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:25-30)

There comes a time when people start searching for more in life than what they currently have. For those who don't begin searching for the answers in the wisdom of men, but recognize that all have gone before, death is often catalyst for looking beyond men, but it need not be. Many become bored of just doing the same thing over and over again, then recognize that they may as well be digging their own grave. Others become aware that there has to be more to life other than being born to die. The futility of this existence once acknowledged is that catalyst that causes people to become open to hearing the call of God.

Recognizing the futility of being born to die is more often than not what makes people sense that the Creator exists and is larger then them. Unfortunately, manmade religion can get in the way of people seeking the one and only true God. The more earnest the seeker and the less knowledge possessed of the world and its sophistication, the more likely manmade religion will be rejected. There is nothing more tragic than seeing a person responding to the call of God and getting caught in one of the many traps that come in the name of the Divine but are nothing more than manmade religion. 

Hinduism not only brings with it the idea that the Supreme Being exists, but because everything emanates from this One, everything is indistinguishable from God. Although more advanced than animism which sees spirits living in rocks, trees, creatures, Hindu pantheism does not distinguish God from the Creation. Consequently, all life is sacred, regardless of form (except, it appears, when it comes to the untouchables and the caste system), humans themselves are actually manifestations of the Godhead. Reincarnation is karma resulting from what one does in the previous life. Good works assist in returning into a better caste and bad deeds may even cause one to become a cricket in the next life. Existence is and endless cycle of reincarnation and nothing else. For some reason, many find this appealing.

Buddhism essentially sees all life as energy that comes from the One that is and returns to that One. This energy goes through many cycles of manifestations as it transmigrates through numerous reincarnations until a person achieves nirvana, upon which when the energy departs at the death of that one, it returns to the One that is. There is no need to worship anyone or anything (although many Buddhists do), all that    is required is for one to avoid suffering and achieve nirvana. This being the essence of Buddhism, there is nevertheless a sophisticated body of manmade concepts and variations within the philosophy, as it is often is described, because there is no acknowledgement of God in its purest form of expression.

When people begin to discover the flaws within these manmade religions systems, providing they are open to the truth they may begin to respond to the call of God. The call of God is not loud, but it is real.

Rather than seek the Creator, many prefer being among the Creation, so they head for the forests, mountains, jungles or an island surrounded by the sea. Still the call of God exists, though unheard, like the gravity, electromagnetism and principles of energy. 

Philosopher Henri Bergmann's "élan vital" refers to a creative life force that fundamentally guides the creation to evolve and introduce variations that spawn into successful new species in a trial and error trans-morphology. This life force has been referred to as "the exigency": the pressing need to manifest existence in physical form as we know it and make the adaptions necessary for the survival of the species.

The reality is that rejecting the call of God requires some other explanation for existence, even if it is highlights the futility of the human being's existence. This is what happens when humans are blinded by the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). The call of God can be felt and it can be resisted. Freewill permits this. Freewill even permits the notion of coming from the All-knowing One or the Brahman or Atman or an ocean of energy in which life manifests and materializes itself in various forms for no apparent reason other than expression for the sake of expression. From nothing to nothing, the Buddhist idea of the kammic force emerges and disappears. The distortion of significance and meaning results in the need for a purpose or a reason or a rationale for existence being unnecessary. Everything that exists leads to non-existence from where it came.

The call of God directed at Siddhartha Gautama lead him to question the Hindu system of religious culture. His observations ought to have led him to think of eternity in the sense that the preacher of Ecclesiastes did, except it appears he preferred to create his own philosophy as to the whole purpose of man. He concluded that the purpose of man was the cessation of suffering, not realizing the foolhardiness of attempting to achieve his own self-made concept of Nirvana—something he failed to achieve, but was enlightened instead according to some traditions. In other traditions he achieved Nirvana within different timetables, with 49 days being the most popular. 

One thing is for sure, the Buddha (if he existed at all) was able to begin a new philosophical discipline that had influence throughout the East as far as Japan and through out the Southern Asia and the islands of Indonesia. The Pali Canon which is the oldest extant copies of the original Buddhist teachings, was written some 1000 years after the birth of the movement.

The call of God goes out through the night sky, as it tells of the glory of God. The stars were created to be signs, to signify more than meets the eye.

 And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years,  and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.  And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also.  And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:14-18)

 The signs that have appeared in the night sky have been misconstrued to mean all manner of things. For instance, astrologers use the twelve zodiac patterns to determine people destinies and for fortune-telling and making other predictions. One can speculate to the extent to which there is more to the night sky other than using the stars for navigating when at sea or to assure the people on Earth of the seasons, understanding the tides as the moon goes through its cycles, and being open to the call of God.

Earth experiences both night and day of varying lengths, depending upon the distance from the equator. This alone is evidence of Earth being shaped like a ball. The moon is clearly not a source of light, for it is not blinding to look at like the sun to look at and doesn't radiate heat. Instead, the moon reflects light from the sun onto Earth, more so when it is a full moon than at any other stage. In the day, the new moon can be seen without emitting any light. Nevertheless, of a night, the moon seems to call us, the same as a light shining in the darkness beckons us to draw near.

An interesting Scripture about the Son of God reflecting the glory of the Father, also brings the typology of the moon, the sun and Earth into view. 

• The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:47)

• He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3).

If Earth represents the Man (Genesis 5:2), the Sun represents the Father, the Source of Light, the Moon represents the Son who is the Light that shines in the darkness (John 1:5), not withstanding the fact the moon has its phases, what we have is this:

• Earth represents the conscience of man, with its knowledge of good and evil, represented by day and night.

• The Sun represents God the Father, who dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16). We cannot approach Him except through the Son, for no one knows the Father, except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him (Matthew 11:27).

As soon as the moon begins to beam its softer light upon Earth during the darkness of the night, this is typifies the Son calling us to look up, for His light is gentle, as He reflects the glory of the Father and shines in the darkness. 

The call of God goes throughout the Earth and those who recognize it have the opportunity to respond. For though many are called and few are chosen (Matthew 22:14), each one is called to the one hope (Ephesians 4:4) in an upward call (Philippians 3:14) that beams down to Earth, as if the moon shining in the darkness, to obtain the glory of the Son of God, Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:14), having been called out of darkness into the light (1 Peter 2:9). The call of God is irrevocable (Romans 11:19) therefore, no excuse can repudiate it, a response is required.

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