by David Scott Robertson
What if you prayed for something and God gave it to you? That's a good thing, right?
Usually it is. But there are some blessings from god that may rock your world. Let me use myself as an example.
I just changed jobs. Make that careers. When one job is ending it is natural for anyone (saved or not) to look for the next open door. After all we have to make a living and the Bible lays down this rule: "...If a man will not work, he shall not eat"(2 Th 3:10).
Well, my family and I prayed and I got a new job. A very good job. A very good job working for a fine Christian man. The list of benefits went on and on as to how this new career was going to elevate the quality of our lives and more than meet our basic budgetary needs. At least we could begin to start the journey to debt retirement en route to financial abundance. Our "survival budget" had the potential to grow into what we would call a "success budget" if all went well.
So here's the deal. The new job/new career is in an entirely new industry field for me - investment finance. I graduated from college but I never studied anything that remotely prepared me for what I am professionally involved in now.
A reasonable question would be, then, "how in the world did you qualify for the job?"
My new boss didn't base his decision to hire me on simply a worldly standards and typical qualifications. He prayed and we we talked several times over a few week's time and we both felt the inner witness of the Holy Spirit to go for it.
So here I am. Many friends have asked me, "So, David, how's the new job going?"
In response, the analogy that best seems to fit is me sitting in the driver's seat of a car for the very first time in my life preparing to drive. The dials, buttons, switches, instruments, pedals, etc. are all new to me. To further complicate matters, the car has a manual transmission so I have to learn how to get in the groove of operating a clutch and shift pattern. Add to that, in this analogy, that I am learning to drive for the first time on the hilly streets of San Fransisco where I have never been before. To finish off the metaphor, picture me seeing the double yellow lines, white lines, traffic lights and signs for the first time knowing they all have meaning but I'm not sure what!
Nevertheless, the job requires me to drive from here to there under these conditions and, oh by the way, there's a deadline. In this analogy I have to drive daily to a new location in a different city without the aid of a GPS!
That about sums up how I have felt on my new job. Remember the title of this thought?
"Can You Handle the Blessing of God?"
This job is a blessing! It is a huge blessing! The godly man I work for has patiently taken me under his wing and is mentoring me in the business. My co-worker, a strong Christian wife and mother of two also has graciously helped me although surely I must be a drain and strain on her.
My God has blessed me INDEED like Jabez cried out to God:
"...Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request." (1 Chr 4:10).
That "enlarged territory" can be wild and untamed. Could you survive an expedition into uncharted territory where danger lurks (fear, intimidation, feelings of inadequacy, etc.)?
Now here's when the power of choice comes in.
I choose to receive this new door of opportunity that the Lord has opened for me as a blessing from God. I choose to embrace the unfamiliar as an adventure! I choose to believe that I can "do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).
I choose to believe that "fear and reverence for God is basic to all wisdom. Knowing God results in every other kind of understanding" (Proverbs 9:10).
I choose to embrace the encouragement and support of my beloved family and friends when they tell me I'm going to make it.
I choose to "trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. In all [my] ways [I] will acknowledge Him and He shall direct [my] paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6).
And when God willing, months or years down the road, when by God's grace I one day become an asset to the organization instead of a liability, then I will focus my energy on Proverbs 3:7:
"Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and shun evil."
DSR
6/1/08