What Wilt Thou Have Me to Do?
Spring 2024
A common question every teenager is asked: “What are you going to be when you grow up?” It’s a legitimate question. Believe it or not, you are not called to live in your parents’ basement playing video games for the rest of your life. Somewhere along the way you must begin to think about a job. Pulling shifts at Chick-fil-A, a summer job cutting grass for the neighbors, or babysitting can be a good start into the working world, but surely your future has more in store. So what are you called to do?
In our Christian circles, when we talk about a “calling,” we are almost always talking about whether or not a young man is called to the ministry. Maybe as a young person you have been or are wrestling with that question. There is no doubt that it is the Lord who issues a divine call to the gospel ministry to be a pastor or missionary. I wonder, though, if you have ever thought about the issue of being called from a different perspective?
In Acts 9, when Saul was on his way to Damascus, he was confronted face-to-face by the Lord Jesus. The shining light from Christ was so bright that it knocked Saul right off his donkey. That event definitely got Saul’s attention, and he immediately realized that he was dealing with the God of heaven. Trembling and astonished, he asked a very important question: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Just moments before, Saul was consumed with what he wanted to do rather than what the Lord wanted him to do. Granted, in his own misguided way, he thought he was doing God’s service, but he could not have been more wrong. His attitude and desire quickly changed when he met the Lord on that Damascus Road. From that point on, Saul’s, or should I say, Paul’s attitude was very different. Paul desired to do what the Lord wanted him to do. I submit to you that this attitude should be the attitude of every young person considering their future calling: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
What if instead of asking the question, “Am I called to the ministry?”, you asked, “Am I positive that the Lord has NOT called me to the ministry?” What if every young woman just assumed that the Lord was leading her to be a missionary or a pastor’s wife? What if every young man just assumed that the Lord was leading him to be a pastor or missionary? Why not pursue that direction until the Lord places so many roadblocks in your way that it becomes obvious that He wants you to be an accountant, doctor, lawyer, or business owner instead? I acknowledge that this is a paradigm shift in the way that most people think!
The conversation in most homes about one’s vocation is often focused on a combination of interests and potential earning income. In high school, students will often take an aptitude test to help determine their strengths and weaknesses. Too many parents guide their teenagers in the direction of a comfortable salary rather than an earnest seeking of the Lord’s calling. Rather than asking, “What job will pay the most money?”, why not ask, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” What is God’s will for your life? Maybe it is in the secular work force, but are you sure?
You might assume that your gifts, talents, and abilities don’t suit you for the ministry. For example, maybe because you fear public speaking you think there is no way the Lord would call you to be a preacher. Well, consider Moses. In Exodus 4:10 Moses argued with the Lord that he was not eloquent and that he was “slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” The Lord’s response was direct. He said, “Who hath made man’s mouth? . . . have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say” (Exodus 4:11–12). Another example is the pastor of the Baptist church I grew up in as a teenager. In his senior year of high school, he was voted “Most Bashful.” If you had the opportunity to hear him preach today, you would have never guessed it. The Lord took the most bashful person in his senior class and turned him into a powerful preacher who influenced hundreds for Christ. I want to encourage and challenge each of you to seriously pray Paul’s question and make it your own: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
In the Fall 2021 issue of Current, I wrote an article entitled The Secret of the Lord. That article was based on Psalm 25:14, “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.” It focused on the theme of knowing and discerning the Lord’s will for your life. The content of that article would be helpful for you in this context as well. That article is available to read on the Current website, http://fpcurrent.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Current_Fall2021.pdf
Not everyone is called to so-called “full-time Christian service.” But everyone is called to serve the Lord at all times. Every sphere of life is to be lived unto the Lord. Home life and work life fall under the exhortation, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). Whatever you do in this world, do it in obedience to the Lord, to the glory of God.
Derrick Bowman