When I do what God has called me to do…

We have to be very cautious when we begin to criticize what others are doing.  When people are following God, they sometimes are called to do things that others may not understand.  For instance, in November of 2009 God very clearly called me to leave my church position.  I did not understand why He would call me to do this, but He did.  What made this even crazier was that He put me in a chiropractic office.  Does that make sense?  While working at the chiropractic office I learned how to be an effective leader and how to see and meet the needs of people.  This was stuff that I never learned in school or in any of my seminary classes.  It was crazy! After being there for 3 months God open up the door for me to step back into full-time ministry.  I struggled with this.  I told God that people would judge me and think that I lied to them.  Because from the outside it looked shady.  I remember in the process of seeking out God’s will for my life He told me to not worry about what others say or think, because that didn’t matter. He gave me some crazy scriptures to look at…

¹² Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement  for fuel.” ¹³ The LORD said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.” Ezekiel 4:13

God said, I want you to bake a cake, but the kicker is I need you to use human waste or poop as the fuel. Then once you have it ready I need you to eat it.  Um…What do you think the people around Ezekiel had to say about this?  I bet they talked junk about Ezekiel.  But He was only doing what God had called Him to do.  What about this one?

¹ In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it- ² at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.

³ Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush. ( Isaiah 20:1-3)

God told Isaiah to walk around naked for 3 years!  This was bizarre behavior.  I am sure people talked about Him.  But He was only doing what God had called Him to do.

I have come to this conclusion in my life…when I do what God has called me to do, all the criticism in the world doesn’t matter.  The people who have time to criticize are the ones sitting on the sidelines doing nothing to advance the Kingdom of God.  I challenge you today to see what bizarre things God may call you to do.