Can someone be called and not know it, at least until God does something to reveal God’s intentions? Apparently David is an example of this—and yes, one can lose connection with God’s call and not know it. When God’s intentions were revealed to Saul, for example, he was in total shock. As Samuel knew, it’s a very difficult challenge to help someone recognize a call that’s been lost or to grow into a call that’s been issued. But having received his own call, Samuel understood how God works. He surprised Saul by revealing that God intended Saul to be king (1 Sam. 9–10); later he was sent to rescind the kingship that had been given to Saul and deliver it to David. Samuel’s work was difficult, demanding, sometimes heart-wrenching, and necessary.
We are not Samuel. I doubt that any of us would want to carry the agonizing weight of responsibility that burdened him as he made the trek between Saul and David. And yet as part of God’s community of faith, as members of the body of Christ, we too have a role to play in helping those around us recognize how God is moving people in ways that they may not see. And when they do recognize God’s presence and even God’s call, we have a role to play in nurturing these persons as they process what God is saying and how they should respond.
Theological education plays an important part in this critical process of identifying, developing, and nurturing leaders in God’s community. In seminaries, divinity schools, and schools of theology, we teachers and leaders do our best work when we not only teach content but also assist students in their quest to identify more clearly God’s call and learn in ways that will enable their most capable response to that call.
