In my most recent blog I wrote about answering “The Call” from God, reflecting on Moses’s hesitation as he dwelled on all the reasons why he couldn’t obey instead of trusting that God would strengthen him. In the season I was in when I wrote the blog, I was Moses. When God flips the switch on your life and calls you into ministry instead of the career path that you envisioned for yourself, it can be incredibly challenging to choose obedience.
Like Moses, my days were spent focusing on all the reasons why I couldn’t be in vocational ministry. In spite of my mindset, I made the leap. Then, when I was faced with challenges that seemed to confirm my doubts, I once again allowed myself to believe that this wasn’t for me. What I wish I realized at the time was that God was on the other side making sure that all the needs I had were going to be met.
This season, TCM’s curriculum theme is ‘The Promises of God’; one of God’s promises to us is that He will supply all our needs. Scripture points to this in Genesis 45:16-28, through the story of Joseph. Joseph had eleven brothers; but Joseph differed from them because he was favoured by his father. Alongside that, God had also given him dreams about being a great leader who his family would all bow down to. Joseph’s brothers didn’t like that so they sold him into slavery out of jealousy. Joseph likely felt a multitude of emotions as the people who were the closest to him envied God’s desires for him. However, in spite of all of this, he stayed faithful to God and the environment that he was placed in. The story ends in Joseph being able to interpret the dreams of the Pharaoh which led him to being a great leader in the house he worked in. Further, because of his gift of interpreting dreams, he also was the reason why the people of the land had food to eat during the famine that arose years later.
Joseph had many reasons to not trust God in providing all his needs. He was sold into slavery by his brothers and faced endless challenges in the years he was held captive. It would have been easy to take a look at his life and focus all on the things that weren’t going right- but Joseph stayed faithful to God and knew that He would take care of him.
When you first answer the call, there are so many questions on how things will come together and how God will manage to make it work; but know that in accepting the call, you’re also accepting the promise that God will provide everything you need. Like Joseph’s story, it might not come in the way you imagined, but it will be in a way that pushes you to trust Him. That’s the beauty of God. He doesn’t just send you to places to fend for yourself, but He sees every aspect of your life and little by little reveals the things you need at the right time. Therefore, as you learn to trust Him and His provision, you begin to see that our God is not one to break promises.
This is the hope I have for the children and families that we serve at TCM; that they would be so aware of God’s love and character that they would know that He is not one to lie. Specifically, that this knowledge of God taking care of all their needs won’t be a statement that is simply told to them, but one that they can trust and confidently rely on.
If I could go back and tell myself what I know now, I’d say, “answer the call because God will provide”. It isn’t easy in the moments where provision isn’t in sight, but rest knowing that God keeps His promises. In this season of trusting, He’s given me the best ministry experience with the best team, and an incredible outreach worker- but beyond that, He’s shown me a depth in my relationship with Him that I have never experienced before.
The one take away from this blog would be that God is a God who does not lie; so, His promise to meet all our needs is one that He will not go back on.
“God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”