Stuck In Your Job? …What About God’s Plan? (2/4)
Intro
Although you were excited about work before, everything’s different now. The pleasure has worn off. Opportunities pass you by. Bad bosses make it worse. And your paycheck doesn’t go quite as far as you want. Worse yet, it seems you’re stuck with this for life. Is that really God’s plan? Doesn’t He want better?
This is part 2 of 4 — read & meditate on 1 part per day; don’t rush.
Dead-End Jobs from the Bible
Most likely, your pastor has never preached on the topic of dead-end jobs in the Bible. It’s just not a topic that we discuss.
But they’re there and very appropriate to check out in our study today. Consider these examples and compare their situation to yours:
MOSES: he had it all going for him, but after a bad choice he ran from it all to go raise sheep in the desert.
RAHAB: a prostitute living on the city wall in Jericho.
GIDEON: the least in the weakest of a family of farmers living in the time of the Judges.
PETER: no choice but to be a fisherman like his father.
ONESIMUS: a slave whose bad choice left him to run away and eke out an existence in Rome.
Likely, any of the jobs listed above seem worse than your situation, and pretty much a dead-end. But God didn’t see it that way for any of those people, and not for you either. Check out how God used each person listed above and see what that might mean for you today:
MOSES: after 40 years(!) of being a shepherd, God asks Moses to go back and rescue the Israelites. Well, the dead-end job certainly had a grip on Moses, because he kept making excuses in why he could not do what God asked until God got angry and provided someone to help. (read his story here)
RAHAB: take the chance to help Israelites spies and ends up saving herself & her family. (read her story here)
GIDEON: starts by obeying God’s request to destroy an altar built by his father (although he does this under cover of darkness) and then goes on to beat an army of 135,000 with just 300 men. (read his story here)
PETER: leaves his nets to follow Jesus but goes back to fishing after Jesus dies, only to re-engage as leader of the church after meeting Jesus again. (read his story here)
ONESIMUS: meets the Apostle Paul, becomes a Christian, and goes back to work for his former owner as a Christian brother and partner, the debt of his theft having been paid by Paul. (read his story here)
Five examples of people in what we might call dead-end jobs. But in each case, God’s plan was worked out in their lives even so.
Of course, none of us will ever be like Moses, or even Peter. But all of us can take steps of faith like Rahab, Gideon and Onesimus. And all of us can be used by God in accordance with his plan.
With this perspective, re-evaluate your work and how it matches up to the “dead-end” jobs of others. Can you see a way how God might still use you? Are you open to being used by God?
Let’s dig deeper into that in our next reading, but for today, re-read and reflect on the stories of Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Peter & Onesimus… with an eye to looking for similarities to your situation.
· Moses the excuse-maker · Rahab the risk-taker · Gideon the lowest of the low · Peter the eager one · Onesimus the forgiven one
PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, I am sorry for despairing or complaining about my situation. I know you can use even the lowest of us to your glory and pray now that you would forgive me, renew me and reveal to me your plan for my life. With eagerness, I await what’s next — to your glory. Amen.
