Answering God’s Call with Confidence
Nancy Gavilanes presents excerpts from her new book God-Given Dreams
Detail from fresco depicting the Prophet Isaiah heeding God’s call, painted by Michelangelo and his assistants between 1508-1512 for the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Photo: Richard Mortel
Former journalist Nancy Gavilanes was called by God to leave her promising career to encourage others to step into their God-given destiny and make a difference in the world. In God-Given Dreams: 6 Ways to Live Your Divine Purpose (NavPress, 2024), she speaks directly to the heart, offering hope and encouragement through six transformative truths—that believers are Created, Called, Chosen, Conformed, Clothed, and Commissioned.
Not everyone rejoices when they hear God calling.
Let’s look at a few Bible characters who weren’t so eager to answer God’s call on their lives: the prophets Moses, Gideon, Isaiah, and the apostle Simon Peter. We can learn from their experiences as well.
Moses must’ve been filled with fear when God told him to order Pharoah to let His people go.
In Exodus, we read about Moses’ attempt at changing God’s mind:
Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (Exodus 4:10-12)
Moses still isn’t convinced he is the right person for the job: “But Moses said, ‘Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else’” (Exodus 4:13).
God doesn’t seem impressed by Moses’ excuses. He created Moses. He knows all about Moses’ insecurities. He appointed Moses for this assignment.
God gives him signs, sends his brother Aaron as backup, and promises to be with Moses, but he doesn’t let Moses off the hook.
The Trials and Calling of Moses (1481-82), fresco by Sandro Botticelli, Sistine Chapel, Vatican. Located on the wall opposite The Temptation of Christ (1480–1482), also painted by Botticelli, the painting integrates seven episodes from the life of the young Moses. Source: Web Gallery of Art
God also isn’t fazed by Gideon’s excuses.
Gideon is hiding from the Midianites when God calls him:
The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belongs to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replies, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian”
The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family”
The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
(Judges 6:11-16)
God is calling Gideon to the Kingdom tasks He has ordained for him–but Gideon is too busy having a pity party. His people had been oppressed by the Midianites for seven years. Gideon doesn’t feel qualified to help free them.
God knows that Gideon is genuinely afraid and in need of much reassurance, so He patiently waits as Gideon prepares his offering, and then God goes along with Gideon’s infamous fleece test:
Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezes the fleece and wrings out the dew— a bowlful of water.
Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time, make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew. (Judges 6:36-40)
We probably would’ve given up on Gideon for stalling so much and asking for so many signs, but God doesn’t give up on Gideon.
God calls Gideon and gives him the courage and strength and wisdom he needs to accomplish God’s mission for him.
“Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time, make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.”
(Judges 6:36-40)
“The Fleece of Gideon” in The Pictorial Bible and Commentator: Presenting the great truths of God's word in the most simple, pleasing, affectionate, and instructive manner (Bradley, Garretson & Co., 1878) by Ingram Cobbin. Source: Library of Congress
Note that Moses and Gideon both need an extra dose of encouragement to live out the respective calls on their lives.
Moses tried to liberate God’s people in his early years, but he got himself into big trouble (Exodus 2:11-15).
Gideon likely never would’ve mustered up the courage to defeat his oppressors on his own.
The same is true for us: We need God’s help to live His purposes for our lives. We’re not meant to accomplish God’s will without Him.
Sometimes, when God calls people in the Bible, their reaction is to feel unworthy. That is especially true with the prophet Isaiah, who receives his call during a vision of God seated on His throne:
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:5-8)
In this sacred moment , God brings Isaiah from feeling insecure and disqualified to being fully surrendered and qualified. How lovely this is to see!
“Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.’”
(Luke 5:10)
The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew (1308-1311) by Duccio di Buoninsegna. Source: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
The apostle Peter also struggles when Jesus calls him with a sign:
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:8-11)
How amazing that Jesus’ reassuring words help Peter go from feeling ashamed and unworthy to casting everything aside to follow Him.
God is calling us, too.
Let’s not allow feelings of unworthiness, shame, guilt, or regret to hold us back from answering God’s call.
Taken from God-Given Dreams: 6 Ways to Live Your Divine Purpose by Nancy Gavilanes © 2024. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. The images in this feature are curated by HTI Open Plaza and do not appear in the original publication.
Get ready to step into your God-given destiny and make a difference in the world.
Are you struggling to find your purpose and fulfill your God-given dreams? Do you battle with feelings of insecurity, doubt, or fear of being unqualified or unworthy? Are you looking for inspiration and empowerment to live out your God-given dreams?
God has given you strengths and a divine purpose, but sometimes life has a way of beating us down and robbing us of our confidence. If you’re struggling with feelings of unworthiness, inadequacy, or invisibility, Nancy Gavilanes’s God-Given Dreams includes:
Reflection questions to help you dig deeper;
Activity ideas to help you take actionable steps; and
Prayer prompts to help you connect with God.
Uncover just how precious you are to your heavenly Father and
become the fabulous, fierce, and fruitful woman God has called you to be.
