How Do I Know What God Is Calling Me to Do?

Here's my hunch about you: there's something God has already put on your heart. A conversation you know you're supposed to have. A step you're supposed to take. A calling you can't quite shake. And my other hunch is that you've already got a reason why you can't do it, shouldn't do it or will do it later.

I do it too. And our reasons always sound good. "I'm just being realistic about my limitations." But underneath the reason is usually fear. We dress up our fear in Sunday clothes and call it wisdom.

Moses did the same thing. He was 80 years old, tending someone else's sheep in the middle of nowhere, when God spoke to him from a burning bush (Exodus 3). Here's what his story teaches about calling:

1. Faithfulness now leads to opportunity later

Moses wasn't on a spiritual retreat. He was at work. God usually calls people who are already being faithful in ordinary things.

2. God starts it, but you have to respond

God got his attention with the bush, but Moses had to say, "I will turn aside to see" (Exodus 3:3 ESV). Then he had to take off his sandals. He had to lay down his own way.

3. Your excuses don't scare God

Moses had four, and you probably have the same ones. As my old football coach used to say, "Excuses are like behinds. Everyone has them, and they all stink." (He didn't say "behinds," but we're in church.)

• "I'm not able." "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?" God never answers the question about Moses. He just says, "But I will be with you" (Exodus 3:11–12 ESV).

• "I don't know God well enough." God gives him His name: "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14 ESV). I AM is all you need.

• "Nobody will support me." God asks, "What is that in your hand?" (Exodus 4:2 ESV). Just a shepherd's staff. But surrendered to God, it became "the staff of God" (Exodus 4:20 ESV).

• "I have too many weaknesses." "I am slow of speech." God says, "Who has made man's mouth?… I will be with your mouth" (Exodus 4:10–12 ESV).

4. If God has called you to it, He'll equip you for it

He redeems your past. Moses' 40 years in Pharaoh's palace taught him leadership, and his 40 years as a shepherd trained him to lead stubborn sheep through that exact wilderness. God gives you gifts. And He surrounds you with people, like He gave Moses his brother Aaron. God doesn't call the equipped. He equips the called.

5. You'll probably obey while you're still afraid

"So Moses took his wife and his sons… and went back to the land of Egypt" (Exodus 4:20 ESV). There's no verse that says his fear disappeared. Courage isn't the absence of fear. It's obedience in the presence of it.

And remember, your calling is mostly about people. If you're in Christ, you've been set free by a greater Deliverer than Moses, so you can go help set someone else free. The details are personal, but the call is the same for all of us.

Then look for your part

Within that big call, God gives each of us a specific part. Here are three simple ways to find yours, all from the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37):

1. Look for a need and try to meet it.

2. Look for a hurt and try to heal it.

3. Look for a problem and try to fix it.

The Samaritan didn't wait for a sign. He saw a man bleeding on the side of the road and did something about it. Pay attention to the needs you can't stop noticing, the hurts that break your heart and the problems that make you say, "Somebody should do something about that." That somebody might be you.

How to test a specific calling

Maybe you sense God is calling you to something specific: a ministry, a career change, a move, starting something new. Here's how to test it:

• Does it line up with Scripture? God will never call you to something His Word forbids.

• Does it fit how God made you? "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another" (1 Peter 4:10 ESV). Your gifts, experiences and even your scars are clues.

• Has it stuck with you? "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4 ESV). When you're close to God, He shapes what you want. A passing idea fades. A calling keeps coming back.

• What do wise people say? "Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed" (Proverbs 15:22 ESV). Ask your pastor and people who know you well.

• Is God opening a door? Take a small step and watch what happens. You don't need the whole map to take the next step.

And ask Him: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him" (James 1:5 ESV). You might be thinking, "What if I get it wrong?" If you're seeking Him and stepping out, He's big enough to redirect you. And if you want the bigger picture of why you're here, read Does My Life Have a Purpose?

The question God asked Moses was never "Are you unafraid?" It was "Will you go?"