When God Calls - Martin Wiles

So he said to Samuel, “Go lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Yes, Lord, your servant is listening.’” 1 Samuel 3:9 NLT

With a clear, distinct whistle, my grandfather mimicked the female bobwhite until the male was almost within sight.

Pappy, as I called my maternal grandfather, was an early riser. Why, I’m not sure. He farmed … a little. He made his living doing it but hired out most of the manual labor. He was up by five every morning, made his cup of instant coffee, and retired to the porch, where he smoked his cigarettes and waited for the sun to top the nearby row of pines.

As dawn began to break, the distant call of the male quail was common. Pappy puckered his lips, whistled a counter tune, and waited for the bobwhite to answer. When he did, Pappy would call again. Within a few minutes, the male would be perched in the large magnolia tree just a few feet away from the porch where Pappy sat. The male answered what he thought was a female’s call. What he found was a tall, overweight farmer.

After Samuel’s mother weaned him, she took him to the temple to assist Eli, the priest. As Samuel lay on his bed, God called. Not being familiar with God’s voice--and since God’s word was rare in those days--he assumed it was Eli. Eli thought the boy was hearing things, but after three times, he concluded it was God calling Samuel.

Just as my grandfather did the quail, God calls people to trust him as Savior, to enter a special area of service, or to walk closer with him. When God calls, we have a few options. We can obey, disobey, or delay doing anything. The free will God has instilled in us allows us to make these choices.

Of course, obedience is the best choice. We should obey all of God’s calls out of love and appreciation for what he has allowed his Son to do on Calvary’s cross. No one has ever demonstrated a more significant act of love. But obedience isn’t always so simple. 

Sinful patterns, fear of surrendering to God, or uncertainty over whether we’ve heard God can all lead to ignoring God’s call, or at least a delay in answering it. Obedience, on the other hand, builds experience by listening to his call so that we’ll not mistake the voice as Samuel did when God beckons in the future.

Think about how you will respond when God calls.

Father, may I always respond with obedience when you call me. 

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Quail to the Rescue - Martin Wiles

That evening vast numbers of quail flew in and covered the camp. Exodus 16:13 NLT

One by one, they dropped from the tree.

As a young lad growing up in the flatlands of South Carolina, seeing blackbirds in the fall and winter months was common. Thousands decorated the sky, and I clapped to make them separate. Hundreds adorned trees, then dropped one by one to consume the fruit beneath.

For many years now, I’ve not seen blackbirds as I once did. Perhaps their migratory patterns have changed. Maybe I live in the wrong region.

Then, one day I saw them again as I took my late afternoon walk one warm winter day in February. Hundreds covered an oak tree. Two by two they dropped to the ground beneath to eat the acorns that lay on the ground. Memories of carefree days when I was young and the world seemed like a better place returned.

But I’ve never seen thousands of quail as the Israelites did. No sooner had God delivered them from 400 years of slavery than they grumbled because they didn’t have food and water. God solved the problem. As evening neared, He sent thousands of quail upon their camp. So many that they couldn’t eat them all. A demonstration of His grace and wrath.

The story reminds me that God will provide for His people … for me … one among millions, but also that His provision varies. Such as the time when my wife and I experienced a rough financial period and someone deposited #100 in our bank account. Thinking a teller had put money in the wrong account, we called our daughter who’s a teller at the bank. No mistake, but it was a cash deposit so she couldn’t tell us who made it. We thanked them anyway—and God—for placing our need upon their hearts.

Sometime, God provides for us in miraculous ways. He sends the quail … or the money. On other occasions, He gives us the wisdom to figure things out. For my wife and I, the latter has been the norm. We still give God the credit. Regardless of the way He chooses to provide, God will provide.

Trust that God will meet your needs because You are His child. He has promised.

Prayer: Father, thank You for sending just what we need when we need it.

Tweetable: How has God come to your rescue? 

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