Throughout the Old and New Testaments, we see God calling His people. In Genesis 4 the Lord called out to Adam and said, “Where are you?” In Leviticus 1 the Lord called to Moses and spoke with him. In 1 Samuel 3 Eli discerned that the Lord was indeed calling Samuel. Scripture contains dozens and dozens of such references.Not only does the Lord call us, but He commands us to call on Him. In Isaiah 55:6-7 (NASB), the Lord said,

Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

But here is my question: Is it ever too late to call on the Lord?I was recently reading through the book of Zechariah and was grieved by the account recorded in chapter 7. In verses 8-9, the Lord gives His prophet a message on the specifics He was calling His people to:

Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.

Immediately following this instruction, it says, “But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing.”Scripture is very clear about the abundance of kindness, grace, mercy, and patience from God toward us, but there is an invisible line in the sand that indicates God does not always listen to us when we call to Him. In verse 13, Zechariah recorded, “‘Just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen,’ says the LORD of hosts.”Isaiah 55:6 says, “Seek the LORD while He may be found,” so obviously it is possible to come to a time when He can’t “be found,” and He will not listen.This is very similar to what we read in Proverbs 1:20-33. Wisdom shouts in the streets. Wisdom cries out. Wisdom calls! But, “Because I called and you refused … and you neglected all my counsel and did not want my reproof…. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but they will not find me.”As the darkness in our nation increases and there is a growing price tag on living out biblical Christianity, let’s make sure that we do not presume on the kindness, grace, mercy, and patience of God. How many times has He called to us but we have refused to listen or to heed His warnings and instruction?We don’t know at what point He may turn a deaf ear to us, so let’s make sure that we are TURNING from our sin; PRAYING for mercy on ourselves, our households, our churches, and our nation; and UNITING with others to do the same.Let us call on Him while He is near, and not be presumptuous that He will always be so.