One of the rewarding and...
Illustration
One of the rewarding and frustrating tasks in the church is to be involved on a nominating committee. Operating on the belief that God calls people, and the church gives them opportunity to respond to that call, the committee does its work with much prayer. It is very rewarding to issue a call and ask the person to pray about it before giving an answer ... and then to hear back that God has confirmed to that individual that they should accept responsibility for a task or take a position.
Often, like many of those called in the Bible, there is an initial response of resistance, followed by the reassurance from God, and then the obedient response. You see this pattern in Mary: God's call; her resistance ("How can this be?"); God's reassurance ("The Holy Spirit will come upon you ..."); finally, her obedient response ("I am the Lord's servant ...").
Some people, however, never get past the resistance stage. They quit at the point of saying: "Oh, I could never do that ... ask someone else."
Often, like many of those called in the Bible, there is an initial response of resistance, followed by the reassurance from God, and then the obedient response. You see this pattern in Mary: God's call; her resistance ("How can this be?"); God's reassurance ("The Holy Spirit will come upon you ..."); finally, her obedient response ("I am the Lord's servant ...").
Some people, however, never get past the resistance stage. They quit at the point of saying: "Oh, I could never do that ... ask someone else."
