Os Hillman’s devotional for today is below. Ever since I joined Emerald, I have been questioning whether this is where God wants me. I dont want the devil telling me that I should be there when, in fact, I should. I have had a number of people ask me how I like the job, the role, etc. And, I woke up this morning trying to figure out an answer to that question that is not deceptive.
I know that I am supposed to plant the seed the God gave me on ministry in the ground and let Him bring it forward. I know that has to be all Him and none me. I dont know that I am there or not. However, I just feel that I missed something with that seminary/mountain thing last fall. Am I being disobedient to His word or am I just getting impatient?
I havent felt near Him in a month. There is something missing. I just wonder if I missed a turn somewhere.
Lord, please let me know. Please confirm for me that Emerald is where you want me. I need to know. I do not want to step out on my own. I want to do what You want me to do. Lord, I believe that you told me to get a job last Dec. 19th. I believe that I became a reproach to You by not listening this winter/spring.
I believe that I saw you in Emerald, but the ways were very slight. I didnt get a kaboom like at Xc. So, I question. Am I in God’s will? Lord, please let me know.
When they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and He struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark…. – 1 Chronicles 13:9-10
There are good things we can do, but only God-things we should do. Those activities not born out of the Spirit will result in wood, hay, and stubble. What seems good in our eyes may be an abomination in God’s eyes. For instance, if you decide to build an orphanage but God has never directed you to do so, then God will not see that work as good; it was born out of your own strength, even though it was a “good work.”
The most difficult challenge a Christian workplace believer will ever have is to know what things to be involved in and what things not to be involved in. Many workplace believers have a great ability to see opportunity. What appears to be a “slam dunk” may come back to haunt us if God never ordains us to enter that arena.
There are many good things we can be involved with. However, there are God-things we are supposed to be involved with. Uzzah was a good man in David’s sight. It was a time of celebration, and David and the people were transporting the ark of God. However, the ark hit a bump, and Uzzah reached for the ark to hold it steady. He touched the ark, and he immediately died. David became very upset with God about this situation; he questioned whether he could serve God.
God’s ways are not our ways. The most important quality God desires to develop in us is our dependence on Him and Him alone. When we begin to make decisions based on reason and analysis instead of the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, we get into trouble with God. David later learned the importance of this principle in his own life. This encounter was one of the stepping-stones in his pilgrimage. David was an extraordinary entrepreneur. He ran the nation very successfully, but he, like each of us, had to learn the difference between “good things” and “God-things.”
Are you involved in anything in which God has not directed you to be involved? Do you seek God about every decision, every action before you take it? This is where God wants you and me to be. Ask Him to show you how to walk with Him in this way.