I like it when the Bible gives contradictory advice. Not that the advice is wrong, but because there is good advice in the world to support two contrasting options or opinions. The book of proverbs is just that: a book of proverbs, rather than laws, and should certainly be read with that in mind. There’s a lot of wisdom there, but it needs to be applied discerningly.

Should I reply to a fool? The book of Proverbs gives us two answers. One verse says: “Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are.”

Another verse from the same book says: “Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools, or they will become wise in their own estimation”

These are both solid advice, especially when someone is wrong on the Internet. Despite, or perhaps because of their contradiction, they’re actually consecutive verses, Proverbs 26: 4-5.

Yesterday’s thoughts concluded saying you needn’t always be at the fore of activism, and offering low-key, auxiliary, pastoral and caffeination support is often the best way to help a cause — and by extension, not everyone need necessarily be a preacher, a missionary, a leader or teacher or worker of miracles in the church The second half of 1 Corinthians — and that can be a relief to hear because it’s tempting to go, ‘phew, I don’t need to actually face embarrassment or do anything outside my comfort-zone, much less face danger’ - and to think ‘phew, I never need to try and tell anyone about God’, or more secularly, ‘I don’t need to stand up for this oppressed group’ and so forth —

But my intention wasn’t just to say ‘you don’t need to do anything but the easy’. Some people need to grasp the harder tasks, to take the risks and do what they don’t dare - or even the things they can’t do under their own strength. To put it a more traditional way, some people have a calling.

Moses had a calling — to speak up to Pharoah and lead Israel out of slavery and out of Egypt. But Moses was afraid and refused part of it, saying he couldn’t do the public speaking bit, and could he have a deputy.

Exodus 4, from verse 10:

But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”

Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”

Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”

In summary, God has a task for Moses, but Moses says no, for fear. God isn’t happy, but has a Plan B, but it’s embarrassing for everyone involved. Moses made a mistake here. As the Bond theme would tell him ‘you’ve got a job to do. You’ve got to do it well, you’ve got to give the other fella hell”

(To most Bible heroes I would say “you’ve got to give the other fella Heaven”, but Moses brought plagues, of necessity, and was bad news for Egypt).

Yes, I wholeheartedly stand by what I said yesterday: you not everybody needs to be at the fore. If you can’t do it you can’t do it, and it’s valid to help in the small but acceptable way you can. From each according to their ability, as Karl Marx says. But some people have a calling. Some people have a vocation, a duty, a specific role set aside for them, and I can tell you nothing at all about what yours may be and precious little about my own. Sometimes it is the right thing to grasp the nettle and dedicate yourself to something unappealing, difficult or dangerous, especially in protection of the vulnerable or ill-treated.

I will quote someone who openly despises people like me - the trans and non-binary, but once gave some solid advice, like Polonius to Hamlet, or Eli the doddering priest to Hannah: sometimes you have to choose between what is right and what is easy.

And I’ll quote an unattributed quotation my friend Eva posted on Facebook, which may be good advice on whether you actually have a calling or just a whim: “When it is sent by God, it comes with confirmation. But when it isn’t sent by God, it will come with hesitation, frustration and confusion’. That’s a nice quotation on the doors opened for you by God - but I will repeat, it’s not Biblical, and doesn’t seem to be said by anyone in particular. If you think you have a calling, do pray and test it. Pray to be discerning, to know if you are led astray or guided for your good. With and without spirits, humans have a capacity to become confidently convinced of the strangest things

I’ll take us back to 1 Chronicles 12 which I threw up earlier. It gives a cap to the having and not having of callings and gifts:

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts.

Dear listener, if you are asked to do something alarming with your life, good luck. If you aren’t feel free to ask for a challenge. And if you don’t have the energy, the clarity, the calling, the doom or the obligation to be Greta Thurnberg, Malala, Nellie Bly or Joan of Arc, don’t beat yourself up. Breathe a sigh of relief, and support, listen, aid and bless. Life these days is hard enough.