“GOD HAS CALLED HIM!”

 1 Corinthians 7:17-24                  (ESV)

Live as You Are Called

“[17] Only let each person lead the life that the LORD has assigned to him, and to which “GOD HAS CALLED HIM”. This is my rule in all the churches. [18] Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. [19] For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. [20] Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. [21] Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) [22] For he who was called in the LORD as a bondservant is a freedman of the LORD. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of CHRIST. [23] You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. [24] So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with GOD.”

ALMIGHTY GOD HAS A PLAN, regardless of how much “sense” the PLAN DOESN’T seem to make!  My own life is a prime example.  My mother and father divorced when I was four years old.  My mother was awarded custody of me and my two sisters.  My father abandoned us with not even a birthday card for the rest of our lives!  Overcoming the bitterness of not having a paternal figure in my life had its challenges, but GOD finally revealed to me that HE needed to prevent me from having the poor influence of my father to direct my decisions and to direct the path HE needed me to take.  

These Scriptures have spoken volumes to me over the years.  GOD made me the way HE made me, even the faults that I had to overcome.  Moses was born when the Children of Israel were captive in Egypt, and his mother left him to be raised by Pharaoh’s daughter.  He killed an Egyptian who was treating a fellow Israelite unjustly.  He fled into Midian for 40 years to avoid Pharaoh.  He then was told in Exodus 3 to return to Egypt and request that Pharaoh release HIS Children.  No one could have “seen” what ALMIGHTY GOD had planned for Moses when his mother placed him in a basket in the Nile River as an infant???

GOD called Moses to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt, THROUGH THE WILDERNESS, and to the Promised Land.  This was AFTER Moses was in Midian for 40 years!  GOD has to allow some of us to “wonder in the wilderness” (as HE did the Israelites) to display HIS SOVEREIGNTY, especially in our individual lives!  

1 Corinthians 7:17 says “Only let each person lead the life that the LORD has assigned to him, and to which “GOD HAS CALLED HIM”!  If you are going through a difficult, trying time, rest assured that GOD has a purpose for it!  It might be to teach us a lesson, but HE uses ALL THINGS for HIS good (Romans 8:28), and HE IS IN CONTROL!  Whether HE uses a broken marriage, a ruthless political leader, a brain hemorrhage, or anything else you place in the story, GOD USES ALL THINGS to prepare us for HIS PLAN!  When “GOD HAS CALLED HIM” for HIS service, HE is the ONE calling the shots, not us!  Acknowledging that “GOD HAS CALLED HIM” is crucial to PEACE and to living the life that the LORD has assigned to him!!!