How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?

–Parallel verses:
Joel‬ ‭2:28-32‬
And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.

Paul was a master of reverse-engineering processes. This process starts with the end-goal in mind (the fruit) and moves back downward to the starting point (the root). Here, the end goal is to be able to call on the name of the Lord: as a close friend, a Father, and a God who I can count on. This verse is a series of questions here, that I am breaking up. And the passage in Joel, which Peter quotes, after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit through tongues of fire on the early church at Pentecost, tells us this is the goal to be saved. So we must be able to call on the name of the Lord. But Paul brings up a very significant question: How can someone call on the name of a friend, if they do not believe in them? For my friends, there are a few that I know that I can count on to deliver on their word. They do what they say they will do. And I ask them to do things I know are within their hearts to do. So it is with God. To call on him to act, I must know his heart. And to know his heart, I must believe in him. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews‬ ‭11:6‬). Do I truly believe God rewards me each and every time I call on his name (or seek after him)? If so, why do I not call on his name more often?

This is at the crux of the issue of having a relationship with God. We must really believe in him. We must call on a Familiar God! And how do we do this? Tomorrow’s passage will shed more light on that … so stay tuned.

Lord, thank you that you challenge my faith in you. You call me to truly believe in you. And when I do, I gain access to call on the name of the God of heaven and earth — to act! Teach me, Lord, to have a belief that acts itself out in pursuing you.