Richard Kronk - Not Called: Recovering the Biblical Framework of Divine Guidance

Recovering the Biblical Framework of Divine Guidance

Richard Kronk

Foreword by Tim Crouch

Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see Gods salvation

(Luke : NIV).

T he God who created this world is up to something amazing on its behalf. John the Baptist, in the days before Jesus began to minister, drew on ancient words of the prophet Isaiah to make it clear that Gods plan to save the world would be his own doing. A straight and level path out of the wilderness were something that God would have to make, himself. Its his doing.

The New Testament good news that John began declaring was that God would do this through His Son, Jesus. And Jesus, when hed conquered the barriers of sin and flaws, told his disciples that, when the Holy Spirit fell upon them, theyd be the witnesses that would assure all flesh would indeed see the salvation of God. This Triune Godits his doing.

I love Lukes rendering of the Isaiah-and-Baptist words because they remind us that Gods plan for all humans of all nations is in his hands. God does not need usor any particular ones of usto bring this about. Nor has he asked any one of us to run out and do something for him. His call is not a divine get er done. Rather, he announces what hes up to and asks us all to prepare the wayto bring our hearts on board with the wonder of what hes doing, to live in the light of it.

Gods call to his people to live their lives in tune with his salvation purposes, to be witnesses of them, has been understood variously through the centuries. For generations, followers of Christ have struggled to understand the notion of being called by God. Often, we gravitate toward an understanding that we, or at least a special some of us, are called out of normal life (whatever that is) to do something more specific or more special delegated to us by God. And wed better get it right.

For one, this might be separation from the world to a life of ascetic devotion and solitude, while for another, it is a call to activism, heroism, or even the dangerous idea of God-ordained authority. Wondering or fretting or even presuming about that type of calling, searching for it and convincing our children they must search for it, has too much shaped the lives and experience of many believers in Jesus. Whether monks of medieval days or nervous teenagers navigating educational and vocational decisions today, Jesuss people can work themselves into quite a tizzy when the notion of calling gets twisted away from the basic fact that God is the one on the move. God is solidly in control of a good plan that hes moving forward to a conclusion worthy of his goodness. Hes not desperate to get us to assume a role he needs us to play but that we might miss. Hes calling us to join in the reality of who he is and what hes doing.

In the volume in your hands, Rick Kronk helps us to step back and see that our understanding of the call of God can be driven by our own assumptions about it. It can become time-twisted or culture-twistedreshaped into an idea more of our making than of Gods good revelation. What am I here to do? can rise like an idol, towering above Whose am I? We can wander far afield, searching for the game plan of Gods rather than for God. We can label life choices as holy and not, as Gods best and runners-up, in ways God never intended.

More than this, dominating but questionable notions can also exclude many who hope in Jesus but live without the kind of privilege that makes it easy for some of us to believe we are able, and required, to chart out lifes journey in advance. A view of calling as a me-centered reality that God has prepared for each, individual one of us to find as we study, plan, marry (or not), start families (or not), and climb lifes ladders is likely too narrowly bound to our own time and cultural setting to be what the God of salvation-for-all-peoples is likely intending for all his own.

Make no mistake, the sweeping plan of God that all peoples of the world will see his salvation can have life-altering implications for any of us. God is up to something in this world: it is about his intention to restore the life-in-him he intends for all peoples of the world, and he wants those whove received it to share it with others whove not heard. Mission organizations like the one I lead and schools like the one where Rick Kronk teaches will continue to need to prepare and field those who know God has led them to go to those still least-impacted by his good plans. God will speak to our hearts, stir our values, direct our paths, and move us by his Spirit.

But Rick Kronk is right that Gods calling is more about the recognition that we are to live in relationship with a God-on-the-move, discovering often what it will mean, than it is about capturing, once and for all, some full script we believe hes written out just for us. These chapters show us that Gods purposes move steadily toward their ends as God orchestrates goodness. Hes not desperate that we guess it all right and not frustrated by our failure to figure it out or obey it. Hes asking us to come, follow me, to seek first my kingdom and righteousness, and to see how all the other pieces come together as our very real and different lives are lived out in trust, obedience, and readiness. This is how we prepare the way for the Lord in our own lives. And it is a good journey, because it is more his than mine. As I live my life in light of his good purposes, understand they are purposes for all peoples of our planet, and submit myself to him and this story, I can trust that Ill hear his voice and be ready to help me give my yes. In fact, may this read be one that draws many to say yes daily to the way-maker God.

Dr. Timothy Crouch

Vice President for Alliance Missions, C&MA US

December , 2021