Called by God

Called by God – Devotions for 2-19-25

1 Samuel 3:10 “And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, ‘Samuel, Samuel.’”

            What does it mean to be called by God? Some people will say they have been called by God for this purpose or that reason. In pastoral speak we talk about having been called by God to be a pastor. Others will say that God spoke to them and called them to do something specific.

            In my own case, I feel that I was called by God to be a pastor. When I was in college I was pursuing a degree in aquatic biology. I expected and was planning on working with some state or federal fisheries department. That was what I thought, that is what I was planning for. But God had other ideas. God had a different plan for my life.

            As I neared the end of my college and had earned my degree in aquatic biology, I felt a strange stirring inside that I felt was God calling me to be a pastor instead. The shortened story in that is that after a lot of prayer, and then after a short time working for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, I felt that God confirmed in me that I was indeed supposed to be a pastor. I believe God did call me to be a pastor.

            Today, I stand ready to retire from a career of being a pastor. I have served as the pastor to three different churches and for ten years as a pastor to pastors. In all I have served as a pastor for 42 years and now I am ready to look at what else God has for my wife and me. We are excited to see what new calling the Lord has for us. God is again calling. He never stops. He is always calling us to do what it is He created us to do and that call often goes through various tweaks and changes over our lifetime.

            In our text a young boy named Samuel was being called by God to be a priest. He was living in the temple and was the helper for the priest Eli. As he lay in bed one night he heard a voice calling him, which he mistook as the voice of Eli. After three times waking Eli up in the middle of the night, Eli recognized that God was calling Samuel. Then, after telling Samuel how to respond to God’s call, God did come back again and called to Samuel. This time, Samuel knew it was the Lord, and he said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” After that, God spoke to Samuel and called him to be a priest.

            A question I think we all need to ask, whether we are a priest, a pastor, a missionary, an aquatic biologist, a musician, a house builder, a nurse, a teacher or anything else, is, what is God calling me to be? It may be that God is leading us already. For most of my fellow students in college, they continued on and took jobs like I thought I was going to. But God had a different plan for my life, one I never thought of before and one I laughed at, at first. Me be a pastor?!

            What is your calling? What is God calling you to do? Not many are called to be a pastor or missionary, though some are. Most people are called to do normal things like teach or work on cars. But in addition to that, I think we are all called to do something spiritual in our life.

            While most of us will have a normal job, I think we are also called by God to do something for Him in addition to what He calls us to do for income. We need a job to pay the bills, but every believer is also called to do something that matters for eternity.

            That is what caught my heart when I was feeling the call of God to be a pastor. I could help people catch more fish, or I could do something that mattered for eternity. That is what God was calling Samuel to as well, something that mattered for eternity. What is God calling you to do that will matter for all eternity?

Pastor Gary.