November 2, 2018


Trust God

The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. – Psalm 138:8

It was a normal day. He was up early, dropped the kids off at school, and headed to work. He had no idea it would be his last day at work. He had no warning of what was to come.

Another man talks about receiving the best evaluation he’d ever gotten at his job. That was in the morning. In the afternoon, he was let go.

A woman reminiscences about her days as a successful sales rep. She recounts the travel, the time away from her family, the cost of it all. And then the day came when her position was eliminated. She looked around to find all she had left was a severance package and a few memories.

We live in a world where we are defined by success in the workplace. Right or wrong, it’s just how it is. The question becomes do we buy into that? Do we believe how wonderful others say we are? Do we believe the sales figures make us better people? Do we think the sacrifices are worth it for the paycheck?

Whether we realize it or not, we’ve made an idol of our job. There’s certainly nothing wrong with enjoying your job and wanting to be good at it. The trouble comes when your job consumes your time, your energy, your everything.

It’s easy to slip into that mode. We sometimes spend more time with our co-workers than with our families. They become our reality, our priority. We tell ourselves we love our families more but, still, we sacrifice them for a job that demands no other mistress.

We’ve got our life out of order. That’s something that becomes abundantly clear when our job, our career, our livelihood, suddenly goes away.

The Bible is clear about priorities. Put God first. Put God above family and friends. Put God before job and church. Put God first. Love Him. Worship Him.

You might be asking why. I know. God says to do this but have you ever considered why? When we love God first, that helps us keep our priorities in the correct order. It helps us remember what’s important in life. It helps us remember that people, especially the ones we love, are more important than things.

Nothing in this life stays the same. We can pour ourselves into a career, only to have it snatched away at a moments notice. We can dedicate ourselves to a particular church, only to have it splinter over a disagreement. There are divorces, family feuds, broken friendships.

But there is One who stays the same. God. He never changes. He is our constant in a sometimes tumultuous world. He is our steady guide. God is the One who loves us no matter what because it’s not about us. It’s about Him.

God has a plan for your life and it’s a good plan. Trust Him. When things aren’t turning out the way you thought they would, trust God. Put Him first and trust that He will see you through whatever you are facing today.

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