the labor of god

No farmer plants a seed with the intention that it will not bear fruit. God desires that no man should perish, labors that His sheep would hear His voice, and goes to great lengths to draw you to Himself, all without violating your free will.

Which brings us to today's lesson.

The Labor of God, that you might come to the knowledge of His truth.

A labor that has been at work since the foundations of the earth were laid, long before your birth. Yet in the blindness of human nature, you did not recognize His hand guiding you and persistently reaching out to you.

II Peter 3:9

⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Longsuffering. Makrothumia. Makros (μακρός) meaning long, and thumos (θυμός) meaning passion or temper. Strong's G3115. Long-tempered. Patient endurance. Slow to anger and bearing long without losing heart. This is not passivity. It is the sustained will of God holding the door open. (Greek)

I Timothy 2:3-4

³ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; ⁴ Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Ezekiel 18:23

²³ Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD : and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

the moment you answered

Whether it is a moving sermon before an altar call, a revelation stirred through a minister's preaching, or a moment of awakening that opens your eyes, we often carry the notion that answering God's call to salvation happens all at once, in a single moment.

More often than not, that moment is sparked by an emotional experience tied to a particular season of life, a season of hurt, failure, emptiness, or lostness.

While the reality of that single moment may be true, I am here to tell you it is only the outward evidence of a work God has been doing your entire life, long before you were born, since the foundations of the earth were laid.

Ephesians 1:4

⁴ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Chosen. Eklegomai. Ek (ἐκ) meaning out of, and lego (λέγω) meaning to choose. Strong's G1586. To choose out, to select for oneself, to pick before all others. The choosing preceded creation. Before the world had a name, He had yours. (Greek)

"But Coach,

How could the hand of God have been in my life, considering all the bad things that have occurred, the things I have seen, the people I have harmed, and the weight of life I have carried?"

With empathy, I understand.

why would god allow this?

Rather than offering a direct answer, I want to shift your attention to three major biblical accounts.

the Israelites

Joseph

Jesus

With each of these examples, we see profound pain, hardship, and suffering, much if not all of it undeserved.

We look first at Joseph, who in many ways serves as a picture of Christ. Consider the anguish he endured: betrayed by his own brothers and left for dead, falsely accused of adultery, and imprisoned for years for a crime he did not commit.

Why would God allow this? The very same question you ask today regarding your own life.

Next, we look at God's chosen people, the Israelites. The people He called His own were held in bondage under slavery for over four hundred years. A slavery inflicted upon them not because of wrongdoing, but because their oppressors feared their growth and favor.

Why would God allow this? The very same question you ask today regarding your own life.

Lastly, we look to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Was He not falsely accused by the Scribes and Pharisees? Mocked, beaten, and ultimately sentenced to death on a cross, though no guilt was found in Him.

Why would God allow this? The very same question you ask today regarding your own life.

When we look at these three accounts in full, a greater picture comes into view. Joseph became the right hand of Pharaoh. The Israelites were delivered from Egypt and led into the Promised Land. And Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, making the ultimate sacrifice and securing victory over satan's attempt to condemn mankind eternally through sin.

Now, here is something to ponder.

What if Joseph had never let go of what he endured, choosing instead to wrestle with God over whether He was truly present and what he did not deserve? Joseph would have never risen to become the right hand of Pharaoh.

What if the Israelites had never released the bitterness of the slavery God allowed them to endure for four hundred years? They never would have entered the Promised Land.

And what if Jesus had rightly defended Himself, refusing to submit to a cross He did not deserve? We would not be saved today.

No matter what you have experienced, it was not evidence of His absence, but rather the opposite. The very fact that you are sitting here reading this is evidence of His presence.

Was God not with Joseph in the prison?

Genesis 39:21

²¹ But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

This is where many, both new and mature believers, experience a disconnect in their relationship with God. It stems from a lack of awareness of His presence and divine design before that single moment of answering God's call to Salvation.

God's call to you is not sporadic, nor is it emotional.

No.

It is intentional and well thought out, like a father fervently seeking a lost child, like a shepherd searching for a lost sheep. The emotional experience you encountered was merely the outward expression of the ongoing call of our Father.

a broader view

Here is the thing.

The reason you struggle to see the hand of God working throughout your life is because of your viewpoint. In your human nature, your perspective is narrow, fixed on yourself and the experiences you have endured.

It is not until your viewpoint is broadened, removing yourself from the center of focus, that you can begin to see clearly. When you release your attachment to each human experience, something shifts.

You pause and realize:

Wait a second.

God, You were there all along.

Your attachment to your experiences is what keeps you from seeing God and His continual call toward you. Subconsciously, you would rather hold on to those experiences than release them and rest in the arms of God.

Why?

Because those experiences have defined you. They have become the foundation upon which you have built your identity.

I am here to bring to your attention that this foundation you have been standing on is sand, and to show you a foundation built upon solid rock.

Matthew 7:24

²⁴ Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

I am here to show you that He has always been there, and that He is not an unreasonable or unjust God who expects you to answer His call to Salvation through nothing more than an emotional experience or a moment of vulnerability fueled by a season of hurt, failure, emptiness, or lostness.

No.

This is not the God we serve.

When you grasp an understanding of the ongoing labor God has made in calling you to Himself, it establishes a foundation of grace and mercy upon which you now stand.

It reveals the process by which God has been softening your heart through the many encounters in your life, the initial work of the Holy Spirit. It fertilized the soil in which the seed of your Salvation has been planted.

If you cannot see the work of God in your life, submission to Him as Savior becomes difficult. This is where the contemplation of your Salvation often begins, because submission is the result of a process.

To submit, you must surrender.
To surrender, you must trust.
And to trust, you must know.

This knowing does not happen in an instant or a single moment. It unfolds over time. Which brings us back to God revealing Himself to you long before the moment you recognized His call and accepted Him.

the calling of the twelve

But rather than rely on an assumption, let us allow Scripture to confirm this understanding.

We will now shift our attention to the Twelve apostles, the ones chosen and set apart from the many disciples who followed Christ's ministry.

I bring attention to these Twelve because through the study of the Word within the four Gospels, we see the nature of God laboring for His sheep.

We see revelation preceding acceptance. We see God presenting Himself long before the moment of surrender.

Throughout my life as a believer, I carried the idea that when God calls you, it comes out of nowhere, that you are suddenly expected to follow Him even when it does not make sense. A notion that carries fear, misunderstanding, and almost a doomsday perception of calling.

This idea was formed through the stories I heard from various ministers describing how they were called, most of them centered around a major, life-altering experience.

One minister even shared that he was thrown off a lawnmower. I am not here to say whether those stories were true or untrue; that is not the point. I am simply painting a picture of why this perception took root in my mind.

Then, as I began reading the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, I naturally started with Matthew. In Matthew 4, we read of the calling of the first four disciples: Andrew, Simon (Peter), James, and John.

Matthew 4:18-22

In this account, we simply see Jesus walking by the sea, seeing them fishing, and calling them to leave what they were doing and follow Him.

On the surface, it appears unexpected. Unreasoned. A command to follow Him without any previous encounter or context.

It was not until a recent revisit and deeper study of the four Gospels that I was, quite literally, spiritually thrown out of my chair. I began to realize that this idea I had carried was not, at least not always, true.

Through this study, the Holy Spirit shared with me:

Son, I have always been calling out to you. The moment you heard Me was not My first call. I have always been present with you. I know it took time for you to recognize My voice, but do not believe for a moment that I was absent or silent. I have been with you since the beginning.

Here is what the study of Scripture began to reveal.

reading the gospels in order

First, we must understand the authors of the four Gospels and their writing styles. For the sake of this lesson, we will focus primarily on Matthew and Luke.

Matthew (Levi) was a Jewish tax collector (Publican) who wrote primarily to a Jewish audience. His Gospel is not written chronologically. Rather, his writing style is thematic and topical. Matthew arranges events to emphasize meaning and truth, not sequence.

For example, Matthew Chapters 1-3 focus on the birth and early life of Jesus. Chapter 4 introduces the beginning of His ministry. Chapters 5-7 present His teachings, and Chapter 8 begins to highlight His healings. Matthew is not attempting to provide a step-by-step timeline. He is drawing attention to themes in order to make a theological point.

On the other hand, Luke was a Gentile physician writing to a broader audience. His focus was detail, chronology, and reliability. Luke's account of the Gospel is intentionally ordered.

This is confirmed in:

Luke 1:3

³ It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

It is through this contextual lens that we can truly begin to see how Jesus operated. Because here, we are able to unpack Scripture from an aerial view rather than merely from ground level.

revelation before the call

So now, let us take a look at what really took place, to truly see the labor of God in calling His apostles.

We learn in John 1:35-42 a more detailed account that adds depth to what we first read in Matthew 4:18. What becomes clear is that when Jesus first encountered the first four disciples, He did not immediately call them to leave everything and follow Him.

This initial interaction was more of a meeting than a calling. A simple introduction. A moment of exposure. Jesus is cordial. He invites conversation, not commitment.

At this point, they made a personal decision to begin following Jesus. They were not yet called apostles, nor commanded to abandon their livelihoods. They were simply followers, disciples in the most basic sense, learning who He was and walking with Him by choice.

Side note: This highlights the difference between a disciple and an apostle. A disciple is a learner and follower, whereas an apostle is one who is called and appointed. But that is a lesson for another day.

In John 1:35, we see the first encounter Jesus has with what would later become the core group of disciples. This is followed by the wedding at Cana, where Jesus performs His first miracle by turning water into wine (John 2:1-11).

This moment serves as the first public sign of who He is. Yet even here, Jesus still does not issue a formal call for them to leave everything and follow Him.

After the wedding, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem, where He cleanses the temple (John 2:13-17). This is the moment He overturns the tables, driving out those who had turned His Father's house into a house of merchandise.

This moment is essential. It provided the disciples with further confirmation that He was who He claimed to be, because His actions aligned directly with prophecy.

John 2:17

¹⁷ And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Zeal. Zelos. Zelos (ζῆλος). Strong's G2205. Fervent heat. Passionate devotion. A burning that consumes from within. It is not mild conviction. It is the fire of God protecting what is holy. (Greek)

Again, notice the pattern: exposure, revelation, confirmation, but still no vocational call. God is revealing, not rushing.

From the book of John we then return to Luke's account. After Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee and began teaching. He first preached in Nazareth, where He was ultimately rejected (Luke 4:14-30).

From there, Jesus went down to Capernaum, where He delivered a man from an unclean spirit in the synagogue (Luke 4:31-37). Take note: this man was inside the synagogue, not outside.

Once again, the disciples had not yet been formally called. At this stage, they were still following and learning, disciples.

Luke then shows us the beginning of Jesus' healing ministry. He heals Peter's mother-in-law of a fever, and from there continues on to heal many who were sick and oppressed (Luke 4:38-44).

Lastly, we see Jesus perform a miracle on the boat of Simon and Andrew, offering intimacy and inviting obedience. It is here that the calling recorded in Matthew 4:18-22 is fulfilled. Luke 5:1-10 gives us the fuller account of that same moment.

It is in this instance that Simon's heart posture is finally softened to the point of repentance, the only heart posture capable of truly receiving Jesus.

Luke 5:8

⁸ When Simon Peter saw it , he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

Repentance. Metanoia. Meta (μετά) meaning after or change, and noia from nous (νοῦς) meaning mind. Strong's G3341. A change of mind. A turning around. Thinking differently after further reflection. Not mere regret. Reorientation at the level of the will. (Greek)

the overflow

Notice, it was not:

Not after Andrew told him about Jesus.

Not after the miracle at the wedding in Cana.

Not after prophecy was confirmed when Jesus cleansed the house of God and rebuked those who made His Father's house a house of merchandise.

Not after the deliverance of the man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue.

Not after Jesus healed his mother-in-law.

Not after He healed the multitudes.

It was after the miracle of overflow, the catch of fish that defied reason.

It was after Jesus touched what was potentially close to Simon, his vocation, that Simon's heart was positioned to receive Him.

That is when the calling was answered.

Luke 5:10-11

¹⁰ And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. ¹¹ And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

Matthew 4:19-20

¹⁹ And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. ²⁰ And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

Mark 1:17-18

¹⁷ And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. ¹⁸ And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.

the same is true for you

When Peter's heart was finally ready, it did not mean that Jesus had just arrived. Jesus had always been present. It was simply the moment Peter recognized Him.most highlighted & shared

The same is true for you.

God labors after you, not because you deserve it, nor because of who you are, but because of who He is. He desires that you would not perish, and He is willing to go to great lengths to provide the evidence necessary for your heart to soften and receive Him. To submit to Him. To surrender to Him. To trust Him. To know Him.

When you begin to understand the labor of God in your life as a believer, it shifts your entire perspective of your relationship with Him. It reinforces your trust in Him. And it allows you to peacefully abide under the shadow of His wings.

In the end, the call of God is not sudden, reckless, or unreasonable. It is patient, intentional, and saturated with grace.

Long before you recognized His voice, He was present. Long before you responded, He was laboring.

Your Salvation is not the result of a single emotional moment, but the culmination of a faithful God revealing Himself over time, softening your heart through truth, encounters, and evidence.

When you see this, faith is no longer blind, submission is no longer fearful, and obedience is no longer burdensome.

Instead, your response becomes what it was always meant to be: a willing surrender to a God who has proven Himself trustworthy all along.