What’s the difference between a job and a call?

Judges 17:7-13 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was staying there. Then the man departed from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to stay wherever he might find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to stay wherever I may find a place.”  Micah then said to him, “Dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance.” So the Levite went in. 

The Levite agreed to live with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah. Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest.”

This is a response letter from a high school senior who had received a letter of rejection from the college he wanted to attend. “Dear Admissions Officer,' the student wrote, `I am in receipt of your rejection of my application. As much as I would like to accommodate you, I find I cannot accept it. I have already received four rejections from other colleges, and this number is, in fact, over my limit. Therefore, I must reject your rejection, and will appear for classes on 9/18!'"

When you refuse to deal with reality you can end up doing some very strange things.

This is a pretty incredible story that demonstrates that when we are out of touch with truth we can justify just about anything.

We have two Jews here who should know what is right and wrong when it comes to worshiping God, yet what they both do is completely contrary to God's law. We saw in the beginning of this chapter how Micah took money from his mother but because of her curse gave it back to her. She in turn built an idol for him. Now the chapter continues with the travels of a young Levitical priest that comes upon Micah's house. Micah offers this young priest a job and the priest accepts it.

Two important truths are here in this passage. First, just because you want something to be a certain way, it does not make it so. Micah knows what God expects when we approach Him. He also knows that the tribe of Levi is the priests for the nation of Israel to approach God. So in his mind he convinces himself that if he can get a personal priest that God is going to be on his side. This is what religiosity produces in the minds of people. It actually is superstition and we fall into it fairly easily. I remember reading about a terrible crime committed against a person, but the story emphasized that the crime was so terrible because it was done in a church building. Now I understand how we view a church building, but we need to be careful because we almost become superstitious about it. A sin in the forest is much a sin as a sin in a church building. It's like people going to a bar and behaving sinfully on Saturday and then becoming something very different when they enter the church building on Sunday. What God is concerned about is what's going on inside their heart, not where they're at. If I disobey God, no matter where that takes place, it is disobedience. Micah was committing idolatry, and it didn't matter that he tried to dress it up by having a priest from the Levitical line to represent him.

Micah deceives himself in believing that he can purchase a restful soul. He's able to ignore all that is wrong because deep inside he wants God on his side, but not God's way. That is something that the Lord will never agree to. How many times people have given sums of money to the work of God thinking that that would cause God to bless their lives? It is true that when we give to God's work the Scriptures teach that He will bless… But there are two principles tied to that promise. Did we give because we were led by our love of God to do so, and the blessing that is promised is based on this question: is what we are in our lives bringing honor to God? The blessing is not carte blanche to do anything we want. It's always wise for us to check our motives of why we're doing something for the Lord.

The other sad aspect of this passage is that this Levite has convinced himself that his calling can be bought. There are many leaders in the church that have allowed their calling to become a job. The end result is no power and no joy in what they do. I have had to deal with men in the ministry that have slipped into that kind of thinking. They confuse Who really meets their needs. They compromise on their stand in the Scriptures because of the threat of the church firing them as a pastor.

I have personally experienced the protective hand of God while I was in the pastorate and had to take a Biblical stand that was not popular with people in the church. I had already filled out my resignation and put it in my desk, in case the church would not support what the Bible called us to do. God gave me an incredible peace inside my heart that gave me full confidence to stand where God called me to stand, and the knowledge that if I were to lose my position that my family’s needs were going to be supplied as they always had been from God. He had just used the pay check from the church to give us those needs however, if that pay check were to stop, then our needs would be supplied in a different way. So what I'm sharing here is not some “book knowledge,” - my family and I have lived this truth for almost 4 decades. For the last 22 years we have been self-supporting missionaries and God has always met our needs. We have even gone without medical insurance because of lack of funds and during that time no one in the family got sick.

Let us learn from this young priest to never confuse our calling with our vocation. Every believer is called by God to accomplish things in this life for Him. What our job is, may be very different. Also, the supply of our needs does not come from the money we make from our job, that is what God uses, but we must remember in reality, if we are children of God, He is the source that supplies our needs. This truth should give every believer great strength to stand firm in their walk with God. The world can take our jobs from us, the world can even take our freedom away, but if God wants us to feast or to have freedom, it will happen in His timing in His way! The Scriptures are full of examples of individuals that God supernaturally met their needs or delivered them from circumstances even though the world stood against them.

Meditation: Do you believe you can buy God’s favor? Are you in a religion or a relationship? Where is your trust? What or Who supplies your ability to live? Do you see your job as part of your call? What is your call? Should your call impact your job?