God Really Does Listen When We Pray
The Lord puts us in positions at work for reasons that often times only He knows. Our “job” is to be obedient to that job placement and to look for opportunities to serve God in whatever capacity we can. When we become unhappy with work sometimes it is an uneasiness that is placed there by God but more often than not it is because our job has not met our expectations…
I’m at the end of day two of my Sun System Administration Fast Track training. The class is 12 hours a day for five days straight and is designed to be a psuedo-prep course for the Sun Certified System Administration tests.
The class is small, six students including myself, and that makes for great one-on-one instruction. It’s a great class and I’m learning quite a bit about Solaris 9. This knowledge will help me perform my job more efficiently and enable me to provide the kind of support needed for our many users at work.
God has truly blessed me in this area of my life. Before I transferred into the unix sys admin group I was working as a systems engineer with my focus primarily in test. There were times that I hated to go to work and I was constantly on the lookout for opportunities elsewhere. I prayed an prayed for God to lead to another company or just lead me anywhere but up the ladder in systems engineering.
Even though it felt like God was ignoring me and my desparate pleas, He was really was listening to every word I was saying. The Lord heard me when I feeling depressed about my job as well as when I accepting of my position.
And I did finally accept my position at work. I read passages like Luke 3:14, “What should we do?” asked some soldiers. John replied, “Don’t extort money, and don’t accuse people of things you know they didn’t do. And be content with your pay.” I accepted the fact that I was underpaid. My boss and his boss once told me I should have been hired at a level two levels higher than I was. Talk about hard to accept!
Another passage I read was Ecclesiasties 5:19, “Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.” What a powerful statement that is! Does this mean that only the wealthy can receive this gift? No. All one has to do to see themselves as wealthy is compare what they have to those on the streets or in third-world contries. Americans do not realize how wealthy they really are. We have much to be thankful for.
Another passage was Hebrews 13:5, “Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never forsake you.”" We can get so sidetracked with our pursuit of “happiness.” After all, it is an unalienable right “endowed by our Creator.” We slave (or whine) at work day after day for money and nothing else and it amounts to nothing but wasted time. Is that what we were put on this earth for? Absolutely not. At the end of our life we will have accomplished nothing meaningful if our focus was not God.
We must realize that “The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts” (1 Samuel 2:7). Our “security” can vanish in an instant. How many times have we read about large companies laying off hundreds or thousands of employees in a single cut? Look at all those Enron employees. They, and the rest of the world, believed that their company was doing well and that they were secure. They were wrong. Materials things won’t last. Spiritual things will last for all eternity.
God has placed me at my company for a reason. The sooner I accept that the better because living without a sense of purpose will lead to cynicism, depression, bitterness and regret. What kind of life is that? That is living death if you ask me. That is why I have accepted my position with much graditude. There is much to learn and will be difficult but I truly believe that I am in that role for a reason. Whatever it is, I am honored to serve my Lord in this capacity.
