“Your phone is ringing,” Lynne told me as were driving down the hill. We were on vacation, so I wasn’t paying much attention to my phone. When we reached the parking lot, I pulled my phone out of the case to see who had called. “That’s different,” I said, half to myself. “What is?” Lynne asked. I showed her my recent call log. The last call was marked “Telemarketer.”
“Who in their right mind would use that caller ID?” I said. “Talk about programming yourself for failure.”
I rarely answer my cell phone unless the caller’s number is listed in my contacts. I’ve had calls from “Unknown,” “Potential Spam,” and phone numbers only. Recently I’ve started getting caller IDs like “Political Call” and “Charity.” The telemarketer call was a new one. They’re still trying to reach me.
As I contemplated the whole range of different calls I receive, I began to wonder what I would do if I got a call like this:
Maybe that’s a little far-fetched, but the reality is that God is always calling out to us. We just haven’t really tuned in. We have tuned out His voice like we tune out the telemarketing calls. It’s just background noise.
God, through the prophet Jeremiah, rebuked Israel for ignoring His calls to them.
- “I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened to me” (Jeremiah 35:14, ESV).
- “I have spoken to them and they have not listened, I have called to them and they have not answered” (Jeremiah 35:17).
How, exactly, did God speak to His people? Through the prophets — men like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, and Elisha. What did these men all have in common? They listened. When God speaks, He most often gives a word that the hearer is to share with others. That hasn’t really changed over the centuries.
In the New Testament, prophecy is listed as both an office (1 Corinthians 12:28) and a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 14:1–3). The Apostle Paul tells us that “the one who prophecies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation” (1 Corinthians 14:3).
The King James Version translates the last few words as “edification, exhortation, and comfort.” In the context, it is saying that the prophet is speaking what he has heard from God. While God speaks to us individually for our personal edification, exhortation, and comfort, He also speaks to us similar words that He desires we speak to others. It’s not limited to those who occupy the pulpit.
Jesus quite often ended His teaching sessions by saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15). We would do well to ask God to give us “ears to hear” so that we might hear Him when He desires to speak to us.
Don’t let that be a “missed call”!
What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!
