Midnight Call

The sound doesn’t scare me one bit when the phone in my office chirps out its cricket call at 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning. There’s no fear whatsoever as I pick it up. I’m pretty used to the stuff that folks call about while the sun is shining. It’s business as usual...usually.

"Friends Church, this is Mike." It’s a telemarketer calling from Timbuktu. It’s a local pastor calling from his office. It’s one of my kids calling from the school.

Daytime calls. Piece of cake. Call me any time. 1:15. 3:45. 8:32.

But midnight calls? Those are another story. When the phone rings in the middle of the night, I’m almost instantly alert. Adrenaline floods my system. I sit bolt upright, jerk back the covers and dive for the handset. My mind starts racing. "What now?" it asks as I pick up the receiver. The news is hardly ever good. An accident. A domestic disturbance. A teen who’s given up hope. A sudden death. I may sound calm, cool and collected when I answer with my usual, "Hello, this is Mike," but I’m none of the above. I’m a high-speed blood pumper with arms and legs. I’m ready to fly into action.

It wasn’t a phone that awakened young Samuel one night. It was someone calling his name. "Samuel!" The boy’s heart jumped to his throat. He ran to Eli’s bed. The old man was asleep until Samuel spoke. "Here I am! You called me."

Groggily, the priest corrected him. "No, Samuel, I didn’t. Go back and lie down."

Just as he was drifting off, the call came again. More urgent this time. "Samuel!"

The child sat bolt upright, threw back the covers and sprinted to Eli’s room. "Here I am! Surely, you called me. I heard you."

"My son," Eli spoke a bit more crossly this time, "I did not call you. You must be dreaming. Go back to bed."

Samuel returned to his cot in the corner, puzzled. He was sure there’d been a voice. Someone had called him. He hadn’t imagined it. If it wasn’t Eli, then who?

The voice spoke again, clearly. "Samuel!" The boy was beside himself. He returned to Eli’s bedside. Almost before a word was out of Samuel’s mouth, the elderly priest’s eyes popped open. "You called me?" he heard his servant ask.

The third time was the charm. "Go back and lie down, boy." He spoke softly this time, awestruck as the realization hit him. It’d been years since he’d heard that voice. "It’s God calling you, son. Go back to your room. If he calls your name again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’"

A midnight call from God? Thump, thump, thump! The child’s heart pounded. His eyes were wide as he crept back to his bed. His mind was racing. "What could God want with me? I’m just a servant, a worker. I’m nothing special."

But the voice came again. "Samuel! Samuel!"

"Yes, Lord?" the lad’s words were shaky. "I’m your servant. I’m listening."

Then God spoke. He revealed the future of Eli’s house to Samuel. His words were terrible. Eli had not controlled his sons. He was as guilty as them. The time for judgment had come.
Samuel didn’t know what to do. He lay there stunned. It wasn’t the message he had expected. He knew more than he wanted to know. Eli would ask what God said. Dawn was coming. What would he say to the old man?

The boy was up and around early the next morning. He hadn’t slept a wink since God had spoken. His eyes were blurry, bloodshot. His heart was broken for Eli. The old man found the boy as he opened the doors of the temple. Samuel could hardly bear to break the news, but Eli insisted. "What was it he said, Samuel? Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he said."

So Samuel laid it all out. He kept back nothing. The awful truth, God’s prophetic word, spilled from his lips. Eli took it all in. He heard God’s judgment on his house. He heard every word and he ignored them, at least in practical terms. He did not beg for mercy. He did not repent. He just muttered these few words. "He is the Lord. Let him do what is good in his eyes." And that was the end of the matter. The old priest puttering off to carry out some menial task. It was a daytime call. No reason to be alarmed. While the sun is up, it’s business as usual...usually.
But this time, the sun deceived him. He had received a midnight call to action and he didn’t recognize it. And his failure to acknowledge God’s pronouncement from a child’s lips was the death of him.

A child spoke God’s truth to me recently. I have not been able to shake the words I heard from my mind. I’m convinced they were a midnight call to me and that they are for you too. They are God’s word to his church. It’s time to wake up! God is calling! Get ready for action! For repentance. For obedience.

The message came in the form of a question: "Why aren’t very many people excited about God?" Hello. Hello. Is anybody there? A hard question to answer, isn’t it?

God’s pretty exciting! He created all that we see and all that we don’t see. He set apart a people for himself and displayed his power over and over on their behalf. He sent his Son Jesus to save the world. He will take all who trust in Jesus to heaven one day. We know these things and more. We know the stories of the flood and the burning bush and the plagues and the parting of the sea. We know the stories of manna in the desert and victories against overwhelming odds and walls falling at Israel’s shout. We know the stories about deliverance from the fiery furnace and the lion’s den and prisons. We know the stories of the resurrection and Pentecost and Saul’s conversion and miracles – lame men walk, the deaf hear, the blind see, lepers are cleansed and the dead raised. We know the stories of individuals and large crowds and entire households believing on Christ for salvation. We know...and we yawn.

J. B. Phillips, in the introduction to his New Testament translation, had this to say about the modern church. "The greatest difference between present-day Christianity, and that of which we read in these letters (of the New Testament), is that to us it is primarily a performance; to them it was real experience. We are apt to reduce Christian religion to a code or, at best, a rule of heart and life. Perhaps if we believed what they believed, we could achieve what they achieved."

That challenges me. Do I view my faith as an act or a show or as a genuine experience? Perhaps, as Phillips suggests, the reason our church and so many others in this nation see so little of God’s power is because we don’t believe, in practical terms, that he has the power to work today.

Wake up church! It’s midnight and the Lord is calling. He’s calling to be passionate for him and for his kingdom.

When the church was in its infancy, God revealed himself to the apostle John on the island of Patmos. John saw Jesus in all his glory and he heard seven messages from his Savior to the church. These letters call the church to excitement. Not fuzzy emotionalism, mind you, but true fervor, a zeal for God and his glory.

Listen to Jesus’ words to the church.

"I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first." (Revelation 2:2-5, NIV)

"I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you." (Revelation 3:1-3, NIV)

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth...Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:15-16; 19-20, NIV)

Do you hear Jesus’ love for his church? Do you hear his deep desire that his church be on fire for him? If you hear his midnight call, church, answer it. Open the door! Let Jesus in. Enjoy him!

May God infuse us with his power and passion. May he baptize you and me and every believer in this nation with fire and with the Holy Spirit. May he do in our day and in this place "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!" (Ephesians 3:20, NIV)

Humbly come before God’s throne. Do it right now. Kneel right where you are. You can lift up your hands before the Lord asking for mercy if you want. If you’ve been spiritually asleep, repent of your apathy, your laziness, your "who cares" attitude. If you’ve heard God’s midnight call and you’re wide awake, ready to follow him, I urge you to make your commitment known to him. Stay on your knees as long as it takes to get the passion you need, as long as it takes to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow.

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