“Here I am!”

“Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” (1 Samuel 3:1-4 ESV)

God called Samuel, who became a great prophet, giving God’s words to the Israelites. With the coming of Christ, His resurrection and ascension, He is our mediator with God, and there is no need for prophets.

Now, God calls us in a different way. I have spoken of the gospel call, hearing the gospel, and God enabling us to understand and desire His irresistible grace. Then there is the ethereal or effectual call, in which God literally draws us to Him through divine intervention. It is when we are changed and beginning to understand God. It is when He becomes not only our desire, but our treasure.

We often talk of the call to serve God, but we rarely talk about the beauty of God’s call. Not only have we been changed by God, our eyes and ears having been opened to His word, but we are rejoined to Him in a living, breathing relationship. The Holy Spirit lives in us and guides us. We have been blessed with this ability to walk on a path of overwhelming love and grace that floods us with emotion. The simplest of hymns brings us to tears because we can grasp what it says about our Lord Jesus Christ and about us. We are blessed yet again given a journey, a path to walk upon, in which a desire for Christ slowly replaces our earthly desires.

I have often spoken of the empty heart and of those seeking something in the world to fulfill it. When we receive that effectual call from God, our new heart of flesh bursts open, much like the Grinch in the children's Christmas tale, whose heart grew three sizes too big, bursting from the frame. That is our blessing.

It is in the wake of that blessing that we continue to grow as we walk the path of sanctification. I believe, as John Piper does, that God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in God. When we are most satisfied in our lives with God, we are showing others that God gives us everything we need: love, hope, joy; He sustains us, providing every need, not every want. The more this love envelopes us, the more Christ becomes our treasure. The more He becomes our treasure, the more we turn from sin, the more holy we become. The more Good is glorified.

There is a hymn that I love, and it says this:

Jesus, Your beauty fills our eyes-

First looking we were justified;

Now gazing deeper sanctifies,

Till face to face, we are glorified.1

Anderson and Habegger captured this beautiful walk with the Lord. In that ethereal calling, we are justified, made right before God. As we walk through this divine journey, we see deeper and deeper into our God, a path of sanctification. Until finally, we stand before the Lord, in heaven purged of sin, gone the broken body, we are glorified before God. What a beautiful journey that many are blessed to take.

Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? Have you surrendered your earthly walk for an eternal walk with God? If not, seek Him now; glorification in heaven awaits those called by the Lord.

Questions? Contact us here at In Messiah Ministries. Email us at inmessiah.lord@gmail.com.

Grace and Peace

1. Your Beauty Fills Our Eyes”, written by Chris Anderson and Greg Habegger. 2009