by Elizabeth Haarberg

The importance of listening to God.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

What are we meant to do? How do we find what that ‘thing’ is? Do we take a job that supports our calling, or do we choose a career that is attached to our calling?

Maybe I’m alone in these questions, but since there have been multiple books published concerning this topic I don’t think I am.

Work can be a difficult subject. How we spend our time is a valuable topic. Over many years the word vocation has morphed into multiple definitions.

““Vocation” is distorted by two disastrous misunderstandings: a secularized idea of “career” and a monastic concept of the religious life. Both are less than the biblical idea of vocation, of which Jesus’ raising Lazarus is a rich image. “Vocation is about being raised from the dead, made alive to the reality that we do not merely exist, but are “called forth” to a divine purpose.” – “The Meaning of Vocation” by AJ Conyers

^“When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.”
John 11:43-44

A job and vocation can be the same, or the job can support the vocation. Nevertheless, God ‘calls’ us to a vocation. This is our assignment at a moment in time or even larger, in life.

How do we hear the call though? Prayer is a good start, but if we are doing all the talking we can’t hear. So being still and listening to His voice in return is critical in the process, especially his voice in the Word.

I hear some people say “how do we know its God’s voice and not my own?” As we get closer, and closer, to Him, His voice and ours begin to align. Being in rhythm with God is the goal. Overthinking the process is not.

Trust is crucial as we venture into hearing what we’re called to do, us trusting God and Him trusting us. It’s a relationship that goes both ways.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado