Psalm 90:17 – Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us.

Proverbs 16:3 – Commit your work to the Lord and your thoughts will be established.

Obviously, we all have a work to do. Some wish they could just find any work to do. We are reminded in scripture that we are God’s workmanship created to do good works, but often there is a struggle in determining exactly what that work is for us to do. For example, I often find myself  jumping from one project and career plan to the next – having difficulty focusing on exactly what it is I am supposed to do. One day, it’s career A and then it’s career B – often being influenced by enticements of a bigger salary or better advancement. But how do we find our work we are to do?

These verses are an encouragement to me when I am feeling stuck or at least halted in my career progress, and they have helped me  realize a few things.

A)  Despite the great advantage of setting clear goals and plans, I am not to focus so much on the specific plan – but rather on the Lord himself. Knowing him and rejoicing myself in him will actually bring about clarity to this temporal life – Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things shall be added. Or as Proverbs 90:17 above infers, as the beauty of the Lord rests upon us, the work for our hands to do becomes increasingly clear and obvious. Spending time with the Lord, allowing his presence to rest upon us, is as important to finding the right work as career inventories, goal-setting, networking, in fact, it’s more important – it’s the only way our work will be established. So, are we building a better resume or relationship?

B) Interestingly enough, it seems the second verse, Proverbs 16,  at first- by standards of  natural wisdom – has the whole career planning and advancement out of order. Natural wisdom tells us to first clarify the values; next, set the vision; thirdly, develop the mission; finally, prioritize the task (i.e. plan the work  and then work the plan). Now, I believe in a plan, but notice the plan doesn’t come first – Committing ourselves and our work, whatever it may be presently, fully to the Lord comes first, and then the thoughts or exact plans and wisdom will be established and clarified.

All that to say this, instead of more career planning – I’ve learned I need to do more God searching; allowing his beauty to rest upon me, becoming more dedicated before becoming more directed.

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