God's Enabling

One of the ideas that is around a lot is that God calls us and that we, hopefully, choose to respond to that call. Of course, there is a degree of truth in that - but we also need to recognise how that kind of notion limits our perspective. What is essential is that God comes alongside us, enabling us and resourcing us. It sometimes even seems that we need to go looking for God. Not so! God comes looking for us, not because God wants to hunt us down, but wanting to support and encourage us. Benignus O'Rourke says (Finding Your Hidden Treasure DLT, 2010, p, 39): "Many of us have been brought up to see God as one who chooses us, or who calls us, a demanding God who selects us for some purpose. We are not sure what his plan for us is. We worry about our response. We worry about becoming indifferent. We worry about thwarting his will for us. But we always feel there is an insistent call: to improve our lives, to change our ways, to be of more service to others." BUT ".. God is simply the God who comes to us .. to give rest to our troubled hearts and minds."