Following Orders

There have been times in my life when I felt God called me to do something so I stepped out and tried it and failed.  I used to think that meant I must have missed it.  Perhaps I did not hear his voice.  Maybe He did not direct me as I thought.  Maybe I didn’t understand.  Or maybe I just didn’t execute the plan as well as I should have.  These might be the most likely explanations.  But they are not the only ones.

Lately I have been thinking that connecting the events that way may involve some errors.  Mainly, it assumes I know what the outcome ought to be for every endeavor to which God calls me.  I don’t.  What looks like an earthly failure may be a Heavenly victory. Maybe there can be a difference in what God calls me to do, and what He calls me to accomplish. 

So often, I think I know what God has called me to accomplish because I infer it from what He has called me to do.  I make assumptions.  We all do.  God calls us to do something and we suddenly think we know what He is up to and how He wants it to turn out.  If I feel Him leading me to talk with someone about something, I assume they will be receptive.  If He calls me to teach a class, I assume He wants the class to succeed and grow.  What about those who feel called to start a church?  If attendance doesnt continue to grow, does that mean they missed God’s direction?   Maybe God wants PEOPLE to grow, and not church attendance.  What if a struggling group is exactly what it takes to make that happen?  What if God wants to teach me something through a rejected conversation or a failed campaign?  Might He direct me to still talk to the person or start the campaign?

I think the key is to do my best to follow God’s direction and leave the outcome to Him.  That also means that I can not assume I missed the direction just because I don’t arrive where I thought I would.

So then, if I can’t judge the genuiness of the directive by the outcome of the obedience, how then do I learn to assess the authenticity of my communication with God?  Well, I don’t know, but it’s what got me thinking about all this in the first place.  I guess that’s a subject for another time.