The subject of Vocation, or Call, has generated some very good reflections in the comments over the last week or so.  I find it a bit difficult to respond to comments that are almost as long as the post (if not longer), since there’s so many rabbit trails to go down!  :)  Therefore, I propose an alternative solution: I’ll try posting more on vocation and call and deal with as specific a topic in each post as I can manage.  Then, we can generate genuine discussion through rather briefer comments. 

Now, that said…

One of the issues that seems to be the most pointed in the comments is the question of discernment: how do we differentiate our will from God’s?  If we desire to do something, is this a desire from God, “from the flesh”, or somehow a mixture of the two? 

When our will is the primary factor, experience tells me that we will pursue something even while doors are closing to the pursuit one after the other.  All the while, the open door (often one we don’t necessarily desire) stands open, until we, either crowded back toward the open door by all the other closures, or finally letting our will submit to God’s, end up going through the door that was open in the first place.  For me, one of the best examples was the pursuit of Graduate School until I finally submitted to the call to pastoral leadership in a local congregation.

In the meantime, the frustrations mount that the ends we are pursuing do not turn out as we like.  We may even try to dive in to the wrong thing just to get the tension over with.  (Yeah, tried that, too.)  In the end, though, as we start listening to God, we begin to discover (if we allow it) what it is inside us that drives us in such a stubborn direction.  And it’s rarely on the surface.  And it’s often rather difficult to disclose to others, if not impossible.  And yet God heals it as we pursue what he really desires. 

By contrast, when God’s will is dominant, it’s much more like a learning experience.  God’s will and his purpose may not be clear - any more than algebra may be or have been for us.  Ultimately, though, like higher math, if we are willing to discover and learn, the will and the purpose becomes clearer and the applications start to make sense.  In such a learning experience, there will be trial and error.  Sometimes we will have to work backward to the point where we messed something up (such as a vain attempt to divide by zero) and re-work the whole issue.  We will discover as we grow that there is more we didn’t know, and become content with what God is doing. 

Usually, need or pain triggers one response; faith based in the goodness of God, the other.  And we tend to mix the two, don’t we?  I painted as stark a contrast as I could for emphasis. 

What sorts of discernment issues grow out of this contrast?