His choice!
Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:17 pm
Psalm 78:70-72
70 He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens;
71 from tending the sheep he brought him
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel his inheritance.
72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
with skilful hands, he led them.
This reading caused me to reflect on my calling. The key phrase that prodded me was “He chose David�. David experienced the call of God and a divine relocation from sheep pens to shepherding a nation. There was both continuity and a discontinuity in this movement. There was a clear call. This reading stirred something deep in me about the call of God. I am one who has battled with burn out and succumbed to depression and who was wounded in the battlefield. I seriously contemplated walking away from vocational ministry a couple of years ago. However, I have been haunted by a call.Laniak asks some piercing questions.
“Can we recall an occasion when a specific personal mission was planted in our hearts?�
“Did an undeniable sense of unique destiny in the Kingdom of God surface during a particular season in life?�
These questions and the recounting of David’s dramatic call were powerful. I was reminded of and confronted by the power and mystery of the call of God.� This spiritual calling, this destiny, this identity is more transcendent than a job description.�
Jesus said,� You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.� (John 15:16)
70 He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens;
71 from tending the sheep he brought him
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel his inheritance.
72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
with skilful hands, he led them.
This reading caused me to reflect on my calling. The key phrase that prodded me was “He chose David�. David experienced the call of God and a divine relocation from sheep pens to shepherding a nation. There was both continuity and a discontinuity in this movement. There was a clear call. This reading stirred something deep in me about the call of God. I am one who has battled with burn out and succumbed to depression and who was wounded in the battlefield. I seriously contemplated walking away from vocational ministry a couple of years ago. However, I have been haunted by a call.Laniak asks some piercing questions.
“Can we recall an occasion when a specific personal mission was planted in our hearts?�
“Did an undeniable sense of unique destiny in the Kingdom of God surface during a particular season in life?�
These questions and the recounting of David’s dramatic call were powerful. I was reminded of and confronted by the power and mystery of the call of God.� This spiritual calling, this destiny, this identity is more transcendent than a job description.�
Jesus said,� You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.� (John 15:16)