God's Call

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.


“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind.” Job asked and God answered. It wasn’t the answer that Job wanted, but it was an answer directly from God. If only it were that easy today.

God, why is there suffering in the world?
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Silence.
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God, why is my mother sick?
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Silence.
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Important questions with no answer from God. It used to be so simple. You could ask God why and he would come to you, in a dream or a pillar of fire or a burning bush, and tell you the answer. Or if you didn’t happen to be a prophet you could ask one. Sometimes he even spoke to large groups of people and to absolutely ordinary people in dreams and through angels. God, why don’t you talk to us anymore?

We do have prophets today and those who call themselves prophets. The first are mostly ignored and the others probably should be.

God, should I marry Persephone?
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Silence.
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Did I pick an obscure enough name? Sometimes what we need to do is listen to our heart. This is not always as easy as it sounds. Is my heart calling me to this person or is it calling me to be a parent? Am I getting married because it is what is expected of me? Am I getting married because I am tired of being alone? Listening to our heart is difficult and we often get it wrong.

God, when are the mines going to reopen?
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Silence.
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Around Sydney there are those who still feel that the government should support them because their grandfathers lost their livelihood when the mines closed. Where is God’s answer for them? What happens when we miss the answer or ignore it because it is not what we want to hear?


A couple of weeks ago I caught an interview on CBC with Richard Dawkins. Does everyone know who he is? If you don’t, he is probably the most famous atheist. He has written several books explaining why God cannot exist.

He had an example of what he considers proof. In everything that has a larynx or voice box there is a nerve which runs directly from the brain to it. In fish (yes fish have voice boxes or their equivalent) that nerve runs in a straight line. In mammals, that nerve runs down the neck, around the aorta, and back up to the voice box. This is the same placement as in the fish but our necks are a little different (we have one). In a giraffe, that nerve is over 15 feet long to connect two things that are about a foot apart. Dawkins says that if a Giraffe was designed by God, this 14 foot detour would never happen.

I feel sorry for Dr. Dawkins. I don’t believe in his idea of God either. Such a god would make me very sad. His god does not work through love, instead he works through force. You will be this way because it is perfect.

God did not call the giraffe to be perfect. He called it to be a giraffe. And it was good. I think the giraffe is a wonderful example to learn from. It shows us how God works.

Warning. This is only a dramatization. This is not God actually talking, but it might have been.

psst, hey giraffe … yeah you … the food is up there.
You can reach it. Stretch. I know you can do it.
See I told you you could do it.
There’s another one just a little higher.
No, not that one, the one over there.
Maybe if you stretch a little more.
There, now you can reach the food that no one else can get.

Notice that God did not say “hey you nerve there, what you’re doing is stupid, come over here and be shorter.” Where that nerve is has nothing to do with God’s call for the giraffe to be GIRAFFE.

God calls us to be what and who we are. This is not always what and who we want to be. God does not call us to be perfect just to be very good. God forgives our mistakes and makes use of them.

Is there a question that is closer to home?

God, when will the fish come back?
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Is it silence or is God calling?