What Happens When We Misread a Journey Call?

By Rev. Dr. Lee B. Spitzer

When I was new to pastoral ministry and spiritual direction, a couple wanted to join my small church. We met one night to prepare for membership, and I naturally asked them to share their journeys with me. The husband quickly confessed that they had "been out of God’s will for some time" because they had chosen to move to another city despite many indications from God that they should stay put. Life in the new location was disastrous. In an attempt to rectify their mistake, they had moved back home to our community. However, they both feared that their mistake might prevent them from ever being in the "center of God’s will" again. They wondered if God could forgive them and give them another chance to journey.

How would you have counseled this couple?

Recently, a friend asked me if there have been times when I doubted whether a counselee was truly called to the journey he/she intended to embrace. There have been such times, but I did not try to prevent them from proceeding for two reasons:

1. I did not presume to have enough information (biographical, vocational, etc.) to be absolutely sure, since I cannot know everything about a person’s life, or his/her inner state of soul (only God can fully understand this) - even though I trust my intuition, and

2. I usually have no place in the choosing process. That is the person’s responsibility. A spiritual director does not tell a person what to do, but rather helps the person to discern, better understand and clarify God’s call. A director can use ongoing counseling sessions to help a person realize that he/she should pull out of the journey if there is no true call, but ultimately, each person is responsible before God for his or her journey decisions. This is analogous to pre-marital counseling. A counselor cannot demand that a couple not marry (if they appear to be heading for trouble or are apparently incompatible), but the sessions can help the couple come to such a realization.

In the passage above, Gamaliel plays the role of spiritual director and prevents his colleagues from improperly interfering in the apostles’ journeys. They all (including Gamaliel) believe that Peter and the rest of the apostles are not in God’s will, but Gamaliel alone had enough journey insight to encourage a policy of non-interference. His reasoning is excellent:

1. If the apostles have mistakenly embarked on a journey that is not God’s will (like Theudas and Judas the Galilean), God will ensure that the journey will not succeed.
2. If the apostles have accurately discerned God’s call and the members of the Sanhedrin are wrong, drastic opposition to the journey will be futile and will put them at odds with God.

None of us wants to "find ourselves fighting against God" (Acts 5:39) by hindering someone else’s spiritual journey. Similarly, we do not wish to mistakenly embark upon a journey which is based on a "purpose or activity of human origin" (Acts 5:38) instead of God’s will.

From a spiritual journey perspective, if a person mistakenly pursues a mission goal that is not really God’s will, four outcomes can be imagined:

1. The "mission" journey is used by God as a redemptive journey for the person. He or she gains wisdom from the experience, and God will use the wisdom in future mission journeys to which the person is truly called. This is what happens to Moses, when he kills an Egyptian in an effort to save an Israelite slave (Exodus 2:11-15). It is the right journey theme, but the wrong time to play it out. As a result, Moses has to flee to Midian, where he spends decades in a redemptive journey which prepares him for the real mission call at the burning bush.
2. God blocks the journey from starting (thus overriding the person’s mistaken decision). Luke notes that when Paul and his apostolic band "came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter  Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to" (Acts 16:7). Instead, God directed them to Macedonia.
3. The person fails in the mission journey and is forced to end his or her participation in the journey in phase three. Perhaps this is what happened to John Mark during Paul’s first missionary journey. He accompanied Paul and Barnabas to Cyprus, but abruptly returned to Jerusalem when the group headed for  Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:4-14). Later, Paul and Barnabas disagree over taking John Mark on the second missionary tour. Barnabas (ever the "encourager") wants to give John Mark a second chance to succeed at reaching a mission journey goal, while Paul "did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work" (Acts 15:38).
4. By God's grace, "the divine flex" occurs. God uses the person in spite of an initial lack of call. Yes, God blesses our mistakes, and then finds a way to get us back on track. We see this in God’s willingness to accept Israel’s desire to have a king even though he does not want them to have one (Deut. 17:14-20; 1 Samuel 8:1-22).

Life is full of risks, and prudent risk-taking is a component of authentic Biblical faith. This means that sometimes we will make mistakes in discerning God’s will for a part of our lives and set off on journeys that may not be right for us. This need not paralyze us or throw us into a state of continual self-doubt. Moses, Paul, and John Mark (who later went on to compose the second gospel) made mistakes and still were used by God in subsequent mission journeys.

The same manifestation of divine grace takes place in our lives. No one is perfectly obedient to God’s will (with the exception of Jesus), and we trust God to redeem our errors. The mission journey themes God wishes us to embrace and fulfill are played out not just in singular events, but over the course of our lifetimes. The Lord grants us the time we need to get back on course after a mistake has been made, and provides new opportunities to live out our journey themes.

After listening to the couple's story, I reassured them that God was more than willing to forgive any past mistakes they had made in discerning God's call.  They, in turn, needed to reflect on their experience to discover why they had made the mistake - so that they would not make the same error again.  This would no doubt require some inner spiritual growth for them.  I also encouraged them to ask God what his present journey call was in light of the fresh start they were enjoying (as symbolized by the linking of their journeys to a new fellowship).  I inquired if the failed and aborted journey provided a context for a new redemptive journey now that they were back home, or was God calling them to fulfill a mission journey they had run away from (like Jonah)?  

After a while, the answer became clear.  Their "poor move" journey was indicative of a negative recurring theme in their lives.  Whenever they faced stress or a challenge to grow and change, they got scared and ran away from responsibility and commitments.  Serial church memberships and troubled personal relationships resulted.  And each poor move kept them from making advancements in fulfilling God's will for their lives.

Our mistakes need not negate God’s plan for our future. They do, however, challenge us to reach higher levels of faithfulness and discernment. So, let’s learn from our mistakes, and face the future with courage and commitment!