interpreted in a couple of different ways. One is led when one cannot see. This could imply that we, the blind ones, are being led by God, who is all-seeing and all-discerning, into situations we do not understand. For “before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.”3 We creatures are not to question the Creator’s judgment, even when He leads us into places that are unforeseen. We all know what happened when God is questioned, for who can forget His scathing reply to Job: “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?” 4 Job quickly repents, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?”5 On the other hand, there is merit to understanding where we are being led. The Psalmist entreats us: “Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.”6 Although God says that “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you,” 7 there is still an emphasis placed on the one who is being led to understand where he is being led and why. To follow blindly with no desire to understand, is almost an insult to the intelligence that we possess as creatures created in the image of God. At the same time, this must be balanced with trusting in a God who is all-knowing and all-understanding. The use of these words in everyday language has an interesting contrast with how they are used in Scripture. In conversation, the terms ‘call’ and ‘vocation’ are almost always used in an individual sense. However, most of the verses that speak of calling or leading in Scripture have a very different utilization. The prophet Isaiah writes “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I
have called you by name, you are mine.”8 This verse is often used in reference to how God has individually redeemed each of us, which is no doubt an appropriate use of the prophet’s words. However, in this passage, the LORD is speaking to Israel, Jacob, where restoration and protection are promised. The LORD goes on to describe how He has already delivered Israel, how He called them out of the desert, and how this promised redemption is simply a part of their calling. Similarly, in Jeremiah, the LORD is speaking to Israel when He says “For surely I know the plans I have for you.” 9 He says that it is “only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you…then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.” 10 Perhaps this lends us a clue to how these words can be in another manner. Instead of speaking as our calling and vocation as something that needs to be individually heard or discerned, we can take comfort in the knowledge that we have a common calling as Christians. Instead of being led to one type of ministry, we can be led to be ministers of Christ. Instead of being called to a specific way that we live our lives, calling can refer to a universal call to repentance and obedience through Christ. Instead of our vocation including our career path, our vocation can be a vocatio universalis where “by which men one and all are invited by the common proofs of nature to the knowledge and worship of God their Creator.”11 This is our calling and our ultimate vocation.
3. Heb. 4:13. 4. Job 40:2. 5. Job 42: 2, 3. 6. Psa. 32:9. 7. Psa. 32:8.
8. Isa. 43:1. 9. Jer. 29:11. 10. Jer. 29:10, 12. 11. Leiden Synopsis purioris Theologiae (1581). 11 Religio Spring 2011