The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord. Proverbs 21:31 (KJV)
In your pursuit of a career, do your best to prepare yourself for a good career. This includes good academic work, professional or occupational training. Put in the time, energy, effort, finances and all that is required to prepare you for the job you desire and where you will maximise your God-given gifts and talents. Remember that there can be no shortcuts.
But after you have done what is requisite by way of adequate preparation, trust the Lord to create room for you and to place you where you will find job satisfaction. Have this confidence: that God will ensure that your efforts will be rewarded. Be assured that He will place you where your preparation, knowledge and gifts will be maximised for the benefit of society and for His glory.
Do not be dismayed, distressed or disheartened if you appear to be marking time, or if doors of opportunity appear to be closed to you. Closed doors may sometimes mean you are required to take a leap in the dark, to build your own business, or to come up with ideas which will create a job for yourself and others.
If your training does not appear to be leading you into the career you desire, perhaps your training is not adequate. See if there is some course of study open to you and go for it. Never mind that others may consider you too old to be pursuing that course. You know what you want, and God rewards hard work.
As a child of God you must understand that your life, including your career should ultimately bring glory to God. So if the route appears to be rocky, it may be to prepare you for the place of maximum significance where the work of your hands will achieve God’s purpose and bring Him glory.
Do not be dismayed if rather than taking you to that job through a straightforward route, God appears to have placed you on a meandering one. Whatever He chooses to do, be assured that He will bring you into a life of purpose as you pursue a career.
Do not ignore the God factor, for as it is written: “it does not… depend on human desire or effort but on God’s mercy”. Romans 9: 16 NIV. This is so, even though the world screams: “if you set goals, you are driven by ambition, and you put in the time, effort, and all requisite input, you are sure to succeed, to achieve your goals”.
My dear brother or sister, do your bit, which is to put yourself through every preparation requisite for the marketplace and never stop improving and honing your skills, but remember that it is God who holds the future, and He will bring you to that “expected end” He promises in Jeremiah 29:11.
If you will entrust your life’s goals and your deepest aspirations to Him, He will place you in the best place possible where you will achieve maximum significance, no matter the seeming delay. God is involved in your pursuit of a rewarding career even when the horizon looks bleak.
Remember what scripture says: “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
