Psalms 62:5, “My soul, wait
in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him.”
Does your soul ever wait in
silence? Or is there a constant frantic prayer crying out to God to speak, to
move, to bless, or to change your circumstances? Are you comfortable sitting in
a group that is silent, or do you need conversation because dead air is too
awkward? Are you prayers like those of Mother Teresa’s where she said nothing,
and where God said nothing in return? Can you find and enjoy the presence of
God in the absence of anything, no worship, no scripture, no lesson… just find
and be?
I have been brought to a
place where my soul waits in silence. It is a wonderful place, full of the
presence of God. Life, even time itself is suspended waiting on the hope that
is from Him. God’s silence is golden, it is precious, it is beautiful, and it
is amazing. For my soul to be in His presence without conviction, or
instruction, or a plan, or a question is so very new to me. It is a time of
waiting and watching that the Lord is good.
This silence is so very
different from when He has called me to “rest.” Where He “made me lie down…”
This silence is to stand at the banks of the Jordan side by side with God
watching as you just know that He is about to do something only He can do. Oh
the nervous anticipation. To my soul I say, “wait in silence for God only.”
My flesh wants to run, my
mind wants to plan, but my soul says, “ssshhhhhh.”
Father Your silence is
Golden. Your presence is life. Your presence is love. Your presence is all I
need. You have filled me to silence.
Matthew 5:38-41, “You have
heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say
to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on the right cheek,
turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let
him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.”
This is not a commentary on
divorce, but it is an ex-wife that has brought this scripture into my training
to be like Christ. It is no coincidence that my relationship to my son’s mother
has been purposely confined to a written set of rules on behavior and
responsibility. And yet as clearly as the document speaks she continuously acts
in contempt of it and the judge who signed it. Time and time again she slaps me
in the proverbial face. Weekly I am literally forced to go many miles beyond
one or two.
Will no one put her in her
place? Will I ever have victory? Do I get to have a win in my column?
I discussed my frustration
with my friends among who were Jim, Aaron, and Jason. And what did I get back?
Not a path to victory on paper, not a plan for a win, but instead I got the
scripture above.
AAGH!!!!!!
That action does not force
her into appreciating the compromise and sacrifice I make for our son. That
action does not transfer control to me. Turning the other cheek, at least on
the surface seems to be a path to more slapping, more inconvenience, more
expense, and more frustration. But Jason advised that when I “turn the other
cheek” then, (and only then) have I stripped her of her power over me. Her
power to frustrate, her power to manipulate, and her power to bring turmoil
into my life. He said something to the effect that when she is a ghost to me,
nothing will matter but my time with our son.
If this were not enough
heavenly conversation on the subject, I find myself convicted by the very T
Austin-Sparks quote I sent to Jim. There is no distinction between living life
and spirituality. All of life is about being conformed to the image of Christ.
And on this TAS wrote.
All praise to God, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. (Ephesians 1:3 NLT)
“Some people seem to think
that spirituality is a kind of mystical or mythical ‘something’ – that
spirituality is something remote from reality, a kind of ethereal frame of
mind. Well, spirituality is certainly
not a frame of mind in the first place.
We speak of a calm and heavenly frame... and there may be something of
this kind as a fruit of it... but spirituality is not a nebulous, mythical, or
abstract thing at all. Spirituality is
the most practical thing. (Even turning the other cheek to an ex-wife, or
driving extra miles to get a son you love.)
When men or women are called
by God into some piece of Divine ministry and, in the face of the demand, are
conscious to the last degree that they have no ability, no resource, no power
to fulfill that ministry, that in themselves the thing is utterly and
overwhelmingly impossible, (and frustrating) that for them to essay to do it
would be the utmost folly and absurdity – when in such circumstances they
recognize that they have a living Christ in whom are resources more than enough
to meet that demand... and by faith lay hold of Him and go forward into the
ministry (living as Christ) with that consciousness... that is spirituality;
and that is practical, tremendously practical.
The issues prove that it is practical.
It is in that way heavenly things are done.”
By T. Austin-Sparks from:
Boundless Heavenly Resources
2 Thessalonians 3:11, “For we hear that some among you are
leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like
busybodies.”
I don’t know about you, but even at 48 years old I still
sometimes confuse and congeal job, career, and calling all into a single task
or profession for myself. But reality is they are most often three very separate
things there to meet three very separate though interrelated needs.
But before I explore this further let’s look at the terms
briefly for the purpose of defining them. When I say a job, this means a task accomplished
easily within a person’s skill set for compensation but that is not attached to
any degree of permanency. Think of a side job, or perhaps a first job, or
summer job, or even volunteer job. Whereas a career is a reoccurring task that requires
a refined, and perhaps even rare or rarer skill set that is transportable from
local to local. A career is that thing that provides some degree of job
security. My career is mortgage banking. The Apostle Paul’s career was tent
making. Christ career was a carpenter. Calling on the other hand, may include a
job or a career, but is the purpose God has for us on this earth. We are all
called to minister to God, but some are called to Pastor. Some are called to
parent. Sometimes my calling gives me the job of writing this blog. Sometimes
my calling finds me in my career of mortgages as I help random strangers who
bring their financial troubles to me.
If we look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs jobs provide the
lowest level of physiological needs. Careers provide only slightly more my
giving of the safety of the second level. But I believe it is in responding to
our calling that the remainders of these needs are met.
Why am I having this discussion with myself?
Because the understanding of these critical differences and the
separations of their roles need to be addressed particularly as much as my mind
has distorted these things.
I hate my job.
How many have said that?
I wish I knew what I was supposed to do… or be… or I wish I could
do…
How many have said that?
Are you tired of a “dead end” job, or “meaningless” career?
Are you guilty of the mindset that life should be a bed of
roses? Have you grown up believing if everything is great spiritually then
everything in life is should be great and easy too? Do you think God intends
for us to lay around naked in perfect temperatures eating fruit from trees with
no responsibilities of effort?
How do you see Christ’s words in Matthew 6:26, “Look at the
birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet
your heavenly Father feeds them…”
Do you read this as the birds do not have a job? Do you
think the only tasks in life are planting, harvesting, and storing? No, the
bird has to get up every day and “find” that food. Yes God does “feed them” in
the sense that He has provided enough if they will do their part. But they must
make effort. They must look, the must work, and they must avoid be made lunch
themselves. In many cases they must fly hundreds or even thousands of miles to
the next meal because the seasons have changed. Is that an effortless existence?
Aside from meeting Maslow’s basic of needs jobs are there
for us to learn and know Christ. They are there for us to fulfill scripture.
Jesus said when telling a parable of work and money in Luke 16:10, “He who is
faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much…” Jobs, even the dead
end ones are our opportunity to demonstrate the same faithfulness Christ demonstrated
to us. Perhaps the “little” is the job, and the much is the “career.”
And what of careers? This application of a skill set to give
us a sense of physical safety. Jesus before leaving his career to save the
world was a carpenter. (Mark 6:3) Peter and Andrew had a career in fishing.
(Matt 4:18) The apostle Paul had a career in tent making. (Acts 18:3) David had
a career in as a Shepard before being anointed to be king. I could go on and
on, but it sure appears that biblical “careers in ministry” happened more often
after careers in the world.
Yes there are spiritual callings none less than those of
Ephesians 4, but that does not negate the need to show faithfulness, and to “find”
the food that God has provided. Even in the wilderness the Israelites had to go
and gather the manna every day. It was not delivered in vacuum sealed packaging
a their tent door so that they could sit around all day watching TV and playing
video games.
I guess my point is that if you don’t have a job, get one. If
you have a job, pray for a direction to have a career. Pray for God to show you
where your skills are unique, and how they can lead to the security of being
needed by society. Don’t be the object of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. “Now
we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep
away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the
tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to
follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among
you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and
hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any
of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer
ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even
when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing
to work, then he is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are
leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like
busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to
work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not
grow weary of doing good. If anyone does not obey our instruction in this
letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that
he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as
a brother.”
In this you will discover Christ. He is in the dead end job,
when working for Him. He is in the meaningless Career when doing it because He
showed you to. Then that calling will emerge out of having relationship with
him. For a lucky few the job, career, and calling will intertwine beautifully. For
the rest of us… not so much.
God bless, and get to work. Work though not chasing a dream, or lifestyle... work chasing the Lord.
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