Now

The Bible has multiple examples of people who were reluctant to follow God's call, even when the Lord was, well, quite persuasive. In Exodus 4, we read about the call of Moses to lead the people of Israel:
10 Then Moses said to the Lord, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."
11 So the Lord said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?
12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say."

There was Moses, the reluctant servant, arguing, in a sense, with God about the authenticity of His call. Moses was perhaps not the most eloquent, nor was he without sin; after all, he had killed an Egyptian in defending his fellow Israelite.  But, God knew the heart of this servant, and He knows our hearts, too - perhaps we talk ourselves out of following what we know the Holy Spirit is leading us to do. We have to make sure our hearts are open and that we are responsive to following His commands, what we know is right.

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The Bible tells us that God called Jeremiah to be a prophet when he was quite young; Jeremiah bucked at it, and God remind him of the unique gifting that He had given to Jeremiah.  We find these words in the first chapter of the book:

4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."
6 Then said I: "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth."
7 But the Lord said to me: "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak.

We know the rest of the story: Jeremiah was used of the Lord to hold things together during a time in which the Jewish people, having been brought into captivity by the Babylonians, could have been in danger of breaking apart.  Jeremiah's words, sounding through the ages, are relevant for us today as God calls His Church to Himself.

At age 14, a young man named Miles, from Pittsburg - California, that is, thought he was on his way to having it all.  A God Reports story says that after a group of girls asked him for his autograph because they thought he looked like a famous rapper, Miles thought, according to a Testimony Stories video, “If this is the kind of attention rappers get, let me go ahead and start rapping..."  The article goes on to say:

He immediately started free-styling inside the theme park. He rapped at school and won talent contests. He got chances to rap in the booth. Chockful of talent, he got noticed by big name San Francisco Bay area rappers and got invited to collaborate.

But, his lifestyle certainly threatened to do him in, as the story progresses:

He got a girl pregnant when he was 15, and he and his girlfriend brought the baby to class. The teacher often held the infant while teaching at the board.

He said that the "streets wouldn't let me go...," he started smoking marijuana and selling it - he was high when he was invited, at age 16, to go to church. In this service, he had a serious encounter with the living God - the pastor prayed with him and, according to Miles, "I was on the ground weeping, crying my eyes out,” adding, “I got up, and God took away one high and gave me a new one. A lot of people think they can’t go to church dirty. I came in under the influence, high, and God changed me. That day after church, the street life began to leave me.”

Miles Minnick is now a budding star in what is known as Christian Hip-Hop, according to the article. After being born again, he didn't go straight into doing rap for the Lord; he thought he'd become famous and then do Christian music, but God had other plans, and he placed Miles in a talent show, where Miles found it that judges were Christians, so he came up with some Christian lyrics - apparently, the Lord used that to point him in the direction of doing hip-hop music for Him.

He learned more about surrendering to the Lord when he and his group drove five hours to LA for a gig that paid based on tickets sold - their take for the night was but $8.  The God Reports article said:

He wasn’t discouraged. To the contrary, he thanked God for it and took it to be a seed for greater things.

“God, we thank You for this $8 because we know where we’re going is much greater than this,” he and his buddies prayed. “But as a seed of faith to show you we appreciate it and we believe we’re going higher, we put this on the altar.”

There was church down the street that was closing up after service and he pushed his way in to lay the dollar bills on the altar.

From Miles Minnick, we can be inspired to think about our own level of surrender.  He was born again, yet he wasn't willing to give it all to the Lord.  God continued to work on his heart, and he learned more about walking in the surrendered life.  God is inviting us to go deeper with Him - we have to open our hearts and be responsive to where God wants to take us, and not resist His promptings.

Miles was a young man, but he apparently did not use his youth as an excuse not to obey the Lord - he had other issues.  The prophet Jeremiah did attempt to talk back to God and say his youth was an impedance.  Moses had his own excuse - he didn't believe he could speak well, so he was reluctant to speak for God. Gideon wasn't sure that God was calling him to assemble an army, so he asked for a sign - twice.  Sometimes reluctance, if it is inspired by the Holy Spirit, can keep us from moving too quickly in the pursuit of God's will, but often reluctance can cause us to miss what God is teaching us or leading us to do.  We have to make sure that we are open to doing God's will in His time.  To Miles, he said the time is now - and He is obviously blessing that responsiveness.