Do Not Fear the Call of the Lord

[Prayer-Soldier]

Do Not Fear the Call of the Lord

Scripture:

In the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated: and his train filled the temple. Upon it stood the seraphims: And they cried one to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory. And the lintels of the doors were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: Woe is me, because I have held my peace; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that has unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts.

And one of the seraphims flew to me, and in his hand was a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: Behold this has touched thy lips, and your iniquities shall be taken away, and your sin shall be cleansed. And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send? and who shall go for us? And I said: Lo, here am I, send me. ( Isaiah 6:1-2A, 3-8 )

Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; by which also you are saved, if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures: And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures: And that he was seen by Cephas; and after that by the eleven.

Then he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once: of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am; and his grace in me has not been void, but I have labored more abundantly than all they: yet not I, but the grace of God with me. For whether I, or they, so we preach, and so you have believed. (1 Corinthians 15:1-11)

And it came to pass, that when the multitudes pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Genesareth, and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And going into one of the ships that belonged to Simon, he desired him to draw back a little from the land. And sitting he taught the multitudes out of the ship. Now when he had ceased to speak, he said to Simon: Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. and Simon answering said to him: Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing: but at your word I will let down the net.

And when they had done this, they enclosed a very great multitude of fish, and their net broke. And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they were almost sinking. Which when Simon Peter saw, he fell down at the knees of Jesus, saying: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was wholly astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fish which they had taken. And so were also James and John the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. And Jesus said to Simon: Fear not: from henceforth you shall catch men. And having brought their ships to land, leaving all things, they followed him. (Luke 5:1-11)

Reflection:

Who among us can stand before another and profess we are without the guilt of sin? Who among us can stand above another without fault before God? It is for this reason we should avoid the temptation to condemn and judge for as we judge, so shall we be judged for what we do and what we fail to do. (Matthew 7:1-5, Luke 6:37)

It is not that we should ignore the sin of another, but we should accept that we all face the struggle of temptation and that we need the love and help of one another if we are to prevail over the snares of the evil one. God works through prophets and kings, but He also works through what may appear to us to be the most unlikely of people and in the most unlikely of circumstances. He looks from among sinners for the heart which He may send forth to warn of evil and encourage the children of His creation to walk in faith. He seeks the contrite heart, the heart which is full of sorrow for its weakness and fault. It is through a remorseful heart which God seeks to speak so that others may be brought forth to receive His warm embrace.

We may be tempted to believe that because of our sin, we must remain silent. We are tempted to believe that it is hypocritical to warn of sin when we, ourselves, have succumbed to it. We must comprehend, it is because of our sin that we must speak. We must speak to warn others of the many snares which the evil one has laid for us. We must speak to encourage others to seek the blessings of His grace, mercy and forgiveness. We must speak so that others do not become entangled as we are entangled. We must speak so that others may hear and know the fullness of His Word and the good news of the love which awaits those who seek to turn from their sin and accept His hand.

It is the evil one who seeks to silence us, for if we do not share His Word, if we do not share the relationship we have discovered through prayer, if we do not share the many ways He has worked within our lives; those in the darkness will not hear a voice which will invite them to the light. It is for this reason God draws us to speak so we might encourage others to join in living by and receiving the blessings of His Holy Word.

If the evil one cannot silence us, then, he will seduce us to pride, arrogance and haughtiness. Satan tempts us to believe that because our sin may appear to be less than that of another we should judge and condemn when we have no such authority. (John 5:21-30) The evil one appeals to our pride for it was the pride of Satan which drove his fall from heaven. We are seduced by the evil one to speak and act in discouraging ways. Satan cares not how we drive divisions among ourselves, only that we do such that hate may be nourished and we are set against one another and turned from God.

To draw in those who stand in the darkness, God calls forth those who will humbly speak His Word, who will seek to live by its blessings and shed the light by which the snares of evil might be exposed. If we lack confidence that we can accomplish His work, we must pray for the strength and courage we lack so that we are neither silenced nor tempted to believe we may sit in the seat of judgment.

As we receive His Word, we must not look upon it as a treasure to hide and hoard, but one which only grows as we share it. Its meaning exists only as we live it. We are blessed by it only as we give of it from heart to heart, from hand to hand. It is for this reason the evil one seeks to silence the faithful, to tempt them away from sharing in love and instead, confronting one another in unrighteous judgment.

It is the instinct of the contrite heart to hide from the God who calls us for we are afraid of the meaning of our iniquities, but we must understand it is the contrite heart He seeks. God seeks to bring to His embrace the one who is in need of forgiveness. It is through such a heart He seeks to reach the hearts which are turned from Him, for the arrogant are blind to their faults and are consumed with the desire to lord over others.

History is full of stories of the arrogant, the tyrants who set themselves above others; yet none have prevailed throughout the generations. All have perished as will those who come forth to take their place. The adversary will rise to confuse us and point out that the prophets and saints have also passed from this world, so there is no difference between a life of selfishness and one of selflessness. Do they not meet the same end? The answer is no, for the arrogant are left to the darkness, but the contrite and humble are brought to His embrace to live in the light forever and ever. The empires of evil will come and go, but His goodness endures forever. Evil may prevail for moments, but the blessings of God shall prevail for all eternity. That which is wrong, God will set right.

The evil one tempts us to believe we cannot be one who may do the work of God. We are tempted to believe we are either not worthy or we do not have the esteem of others by which we may speak or act. Satan cares not how we are turned away from the blessings to which God calls us, only that we are. We must not listen to the voice which seeks to silence our faith, rather, we must listen to the voice which calls us to live and share our faith. The mighty have stood to declare their greatness, but God raises the lowly to topple the arrogant. (Judith 9:11, Psalm 138:6, Isaiah 57:15, Ezekiel 17:24, Luke 1:52, 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, Philippians 3:21, James 1:9-11)

If we seek to count ourselves among His faithful, then, we should not be afraid to accept His call. The evil one will send all the temptations of the world to distract us. He will send emissaries with silver tongues to shame us, demean us, and to confuse all who might hear us. We should not be afraid, for if we trust in the Holy Spirit, He will guide us in truth and how we may share the blessings of His Word.

May the peace and blessings of the Lord be with you always,
Prayer Soldier