GOD’S ANNOYING SERVANTS
“They said to one another: ‘Here comes that master dreamer! Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here.’” Gen 19-20
How annoying is Joseph! Seriously though! He’s soooooo annoying. How would you like it if your younger brother kept coming up to you and telling you about his dreams and how they meant that you were going to serve him? He’s the precocious younger brother always following his older siblings around. Worst of all, he was his father’s favorite child, even though he wasn’t the oldest. So, you can see why his brothers hated him. I, an oldest child, have an issue with him. But, sometimes that’s just how it seems to go with God.
I always like reading through the stories of people called by God. Some, like Saul, make a lot of sense, while others, such as Peter seem a little more unusual. However, I think these unusual stories are actually good reminders of how and when we are being called by God. God’s messengers are rarely as obvious as a voice coming from a burning bush. Yet, that’s where we so often want God to be. We want God to be in a place where we expect God to be, especially if it’s awe-inspiring. Those situations make sense. Sometimes that voice comes from an unlikely person, like an annoying younger sibling (or any sibling for that matter); other times it comes from your car breaking down on the way to your mediocre job.
Nevertheless, I think one of the reasons why that voice is so annoying in those situations is the inconvenient nature of it. We aren’t expecting our calling to come from the everyday, and, as a result, aren’t guarded from it. This is especially true when we are comfortable in our lives, unwilling to hear where we may be called. The annoying God will try to evade our defenses and reach our hearts in the ways that we might never expect.
Let us take today and be aware of the moments of our lives that frustrate us. What about that moment might be drawing our ire? Could we be evading God calling us to something greater?
Matthew Keppel
Photo Credit: No Annoying Sign