“But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’”

You may have heard the old humorous expression, ‘You can call me anything you want; just don’t call me late for dinner!”  However, in the Scriptures the word call is a word rich with meaning.  In the Hebrew qará means “to call, cry, invite, preach, name and proclaim.”  This is the primary word used in the Old Testament translated “call.”

We begin to see the depth of meaning of this word beginning in Genesis.  There in chapter one we see God calling “the light ‘day’ and the darkness…‘night’” (v. 5).  We also see him calling “the expanse ‘sky’” (v. 8),  “the dry ground ‘land’…and the gathered waters he called ‘seas’” (v. 10).  As Creator, God had the indisputable right and privilege to call these things what they were.  In this sense he was naming them and at the same time categorizing them.  Having received the responsibility to manage God’s creation (1:28), Adam demonstrated God’s image for the first time: “whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name” (v. 19), thus giving “names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field” (v. 20).  That too was Adam’s God-given right to do.

However, we see a different focus of God’s call in Genesis chapter 3.  In this record of the fall of humanity, God, still exercising his Creator/Owner rights, “called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (v. 9).  Since God is omniscient, he already knew where the man and woman were — hiding among the trees of the garden.  The language implies that God met Adam and his wife routinely, and this was the time for their normal rendezvous.  However, they were absent this time, so God calls them out.

Adam’s response looks like modern telephone plans.  In answer to God’s call, Adam first uses ‘call holding’ (hid himself), then ‘call forward’ (blames God and Eve).  Eve, too, uses the ‘call forward’ strategy, blaming the serpent.  Notice that the Lord never calls on the serpent, because no redemption is possible for him.   But it is for mankind.  God’s call, therefore, became redemptive in nature.  Later (4:26) “men began to call on the name of the Lord,” an obvious emphasis to the reciprocal and responsive nature of God’s calling in people’s lives.

The New Testament fully explores the redemptive aspects of God’s call.  The Greek word kaleo is the root for the English word call.  Along with many other instances in the New Testament, Romans 8:28 calls believers “the called.”  Verse 30 gives us the order:  “[W]hom he predestined, these he also called; whom he called, these he also justified; and whom he justified, these he also glorified.”  Each phrase is worthy of exploration and deep contemplation.

The calling of God is for “all who call upon him” (Rom. 10:12) and based on the “grace of Christ” (Gal. 1:6).  It is “irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29) and “upward” (Phil. 3:14) and grants “liberty” (Gal. 5:13) that leads to us “obtaining … the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thes. 2:14).  It also puts us in such intimate fellowship with him that “He is not ashamed to call [us] brethren” (Heb. 2:11)!  Can it get any better than this?

What should be our response when we know God is calling?  Paul’s response was to “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).  Peter said we should “make sure your call and election [are] sure” (2 Peter 1:10) so that “an entrance will be supplied … abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 11).

As you respond to God’s call on your life, others in your circle of influence should notice.  Does God have a call on their lives as well?  Perhaps some, at least.  Your response to the Caller will impact their response.  What is God calling you to do today?