Why you need to stop trying to figure out your future
The Bible shows us exactly what we need to be doing right now
Since I left my job at Apple a few months ago, I found myself for the first time being unsure of where I’m heading or what I should be doing. It’s been both exciting, exhilarating, yet nerve wrecking and scary at the same time.
Like many, I enjoyed having vision and a purpose for my life. But sometimes, life can throw us curveballs, and makes us throw everything into question — but that’s okay. In fact, that’s often times necessary so that we’re able to then do something great.
“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” — Steve Jobs
Take Joseph for example, from the book of Genesis. God gave him vision from a young age to rule over his people — yet from that very point onward, his life got more and more challenging.
Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and left for dead.
Joseph was sold into slavery and forced to attend to his Egyptian master.
Joseph was wrongly accused of rape and thrown into prison for years.
Throughout this entire time in Joseph’s life, he must have questioned God. He must have gotten angry, confused, faithless, and hopeless. “Why are you doing this to me? Do you want to make me miserable?”
Yet we see consistently that “The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered”. He stayed close to God, and made sure to prosper everything he did, though he did not know where it would lead. That’s the definition of walking by faith.
It may have not made sense to him at the time — but that’s okay. It doesn’t need to make sense. Joseph had faith that some day the dots would connect. They just wouldn’t connect going forward, only backwards.
“By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” — Hebrews 11:3
God created what was seen out of what was unseen. In the same way, those who trust in God, trust that he creates what is seen in their life, out of what they currently do not see. This requires that we have faith.
It’s not by understanding that we have faith, but it’s by faith that we have understanding.
If you don’t feel like you “have it figured out” yet, then that’s okay! The Bible makes it clear: Just be excellent at whatever is right in front of you. And have faith it’ll work out to something great.
If you’ve been chosen to lead a team, company, organisation or group — make it your mission to prosper that with all your heart.
Trust that God will allow you to hone in on your crafts, and at just the right time, raise you up to do something extraordinary.
Joseph didn’t realise his ultimate purpose in life until he found himself at his lowest point, in the dungeon. Maybe that’s where you need to be too. You might need to live in your own dungeon for a while, and learn how to propser, until God sets you over Egypt. And when that happens, oh it’ll be worth it. You can do it!
I appreciate taking the time out to read this! I post articles weekly on topics related to faith, entrepreneurship, technology and creativity. If you’re interested in joining in-person events on these topics, check out my meetup group startUP.
