I’m Called and Equipped; What More Do I Need?

“A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son…the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will  

        begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”                                                 Judges 13: 3-5 selected
                 “Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power.” 

                             Judges 14:19

How is it that we veer off the course God has established for us?

How is it that Sampson found himself off course?

One lesson we need to learn is that our call from God and His equipping to complete that call does not guarantee that we will complete the race.

It is indeed special to receive a call from God and to know that He has given us all that we need to complete that call.

But the call and the equipping are still ours to step into and to utilize.

God will not force you to respond to His call.

You are free to disobey.

You are free to walk away.

You are free to use the gifts, talents and abilities for your own purposes and not His.

Sampson’s supernatural strength was often used to get him out of predicaments his own flesh, his own desires got him into.

Like Moses who struck the rock he was commanded to speak to, Samson used Gods’ equipping to get himself out of a pickle he had brought upon himself.  

I thank God for the call on my life.

I thank Him for the equipping He gives to walk in that call.

But I also recognize that finishing the course requires a moment-by-moment trust and obedience to Him.

Jesus spoke of it as: “…abiding in the vine.”

The call sets me on the course and the equipping gives me what I need to complete the race but neither one guarantees a finish.

The runner must keep his eye on the prize, the goal that is set before him. 

There is a hunger, a zeal, a thirst, an appetite for completing the race that only comes to those who remain in intimate relationship with the God who has called us.

Don’t be shortsighted as Sampson became (sorry about the pun); stay focused on the Lord!