Embracing a Difficult Calling

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’ Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Jonah 3:1

20th century writer and minister Frederick Buechner once said that vocation is “at the intersection of your great joy and the world’s great need.” While in general I think that’s quite true, I also struggle with it because I have seen God’s call for our lives sometimes prioritize the “great need” part over the “great joy” part.

A story that comes to my mind when I think about difficult callings is the one found in the book of Jonah. It’s an interesting little book – only four chapters— about a prophet who was miraculously rescued by God after running from his calling so that he could have a second chance at proclaiming God’s Word to Israel’s ancient enemy.

Though Jonah’s response of boarding a boat for Tarshish (modern day Spain) when God told him to go to Nineveh (modern day Iraq) was the wrong response, it is also an understandable one. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and in the eighth century B.C. they conquered the entire Fertile Crescent area of the Middle East with the first massive use of iron weaponry.

They were well-known for their brutality.  

I imagine a fantasy in Jonah’s mind: instead of embracing the call God gave him, he could sit on the sandy beaches of Tarshish in whatever form of ancient sunglasses he may have had and be free from the difficulty of the task at hand. And that’s what he chose to do. He boarded a ship in Joppa’s ancient sea port and it wasn’t long before a storm emerged on the Mediterranean Sea.

When the storm arises, the Bible tells us that Jonah was asleep in the boat. The others on the boat drew lots to determine who was at fault for the storm, and when the lots fell on Jonah, what he already knew deep down was confirmed: the storm was the result of God’s displeasure with him, so he told them to cast him into the sea. Maybe he thought to himself that death by drowning was better than death at the hand of the Ninevites.

When the others on the boat threw Jonah overboard, the storm calmed. But God wasn’t done with Jonah yet.  

The second chapter of the book shows Jonah coming to his senses. As we know, God provided a great fish that swallowed him up and, entangled in seaweed, he cries out to God for help. It’s very poetic. When God gives him another chance at obedience, the fish vomited him onto the shore then the first verse of Chapter 3 contains one of the most humorous verses in all of Scripture:

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of
Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah obeyed the word of
the LORD and went to Nineveh.

So what’s the right response, when we’re called into challenging circumstances?

I learned a lot about this from my father as I watched him endure many years of difficult circumstances for my family. You couldn’t find a godlier person walking in the footsteps of what he’d been called to do and, let me tell you, there was no joy in watching and experiencing those events. But for Dad, he knew his vocation was to care for people and that his job was simply whatever he could do income-wise at that moment to make the care for others possible.  

I remember asking Dad at one point, “How can you embrace this calling that God has given to you?” and he told me about a dream he had that he’d never forget:

He was sitting at a long banquet table and there was chaos all around him. He was growing increasingly agitated about the chaos and when he finally reached a boiling point and he slammed his fists down on the table. The cutlery jumped and he yelled “this is enough!” In response, he heard a small voice gently say, “I’ll tell you when it’s enough.” Then he woke up.

For Dad, the “peace that passed all understanding [guarded his heart and mind] in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7),” making it possible for him to remain faithful to his calling. And when it’s our turn, the Bible promises the same for us.

When you are afraid to step into a difficult calling, may I encourage you to ask God for His help?

George Fox, the founder of the Friends movement, once shared some encouragement with faithful servants of Christ who were persecuted for their faith—sometimes to the point of imprisonment or death. In a letter to some of the Friends when they were in jail, he said:

“Sing and rejoice, you children of the day and of the Light. For the Lord is at work in this thick night of darkness that may be felt. Truth does flourish as the rose, the lilies do grow among the thorns, the plants atop the hills, and upon them the lambs do skip and play. Never heed the tempest nor the storms, floods, or rains. For the seed, Christ, is over all and does reign. And so, be of good faith, and valiant for the truth, for the truth can live in the jails. Fear not, the loss of the fleece, for it will grow again and follow the Lamb, if it be under the beast’s horns or under the beast’s heels, for the Lamb shall have victory over them all.”

Additional reading: The book of Jonah