“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matthew 7:7-8 (NIV)
"Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in.
Matthew 7:7-8 (The Message)
Ask, seek, and knock. The NIV translation of the passage from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount sounds so simple, yet we make it soooo complicated sometimes, don't we? I've had two experiences during the past week that illustrate how this can actually play out in our lives, in both large and small ways.
I've been doing a lot of seeking/asking in my conversations with the Lord regarding how I should be spending my time between career and ministry, and what direction He wants me to take in both. I've made a point of asking Him very directly, not engaging in debate or negotiation as The Message translation instructs us not to do. He has been taking me through the scenic route toward those answers it seems, but I'm confident the delays are caused by my lack of readiness, not His lack of willingness.
I have been gaining clarity recently regarding the direction of my career, moving me away from the nuts and bolts of day-to-day accounting into more computer system development pertaining to finance. It's a path that will require a lot of training, but the Lord already has me at an organization that will pay for it and be essentially a working laboratory in which I can gain valuable practical experience that can be a great benefit to the organization--one of my favorite things, a win-win scenario.
The Lord led me last week to a point of laying out what that training would look like and gave me the opportunity to pick the brain of a very knowledgeable consultant who I've worked with the past two years. Following that conversation, I checked the current training schedule. Classes that I need first aren't usually available within 300 miles of Washington, DC, but low and behold, there they were, in either Northern Virginia and DC over the next six weeks! After asking, I sought, then found. Isn't that cool! I've started knocking and am confident that, after I've done my part, the door will be opened to the next and most successful phase of my career which I will continue to dedicate to the glory of God!
It's not always about major life paths, though. On Tuesday at work, we were getting ready to roll out the newest version of our budget software, for which I am the project manager. Setting security access to limit visibility of data was a major issue in the first version last summer, but when we were testing it late Tuesday, we had a different issue--no one could get in! That's a very secure system, but not one that is particularly useful.
I felt the fear and panic welling up in me, but I said a quick prayer asking God to show me a solution to this issue. He led me to wander around and check other users' access. It turns out I found someone who could get in, which led me to understand how we could get everyone in. I sought the answer, found the necessary clue, knocked, and the door was opened. The best thing was sharing with a co-worker who really solved the problem, giving credit where credit was due--to Jesus!
Obviously it's not always quite that smooth. As I write this Wednesday night, I face another major system issue needing resolution on Thursday. I am asking for God to show the path, and will begin seeking the answer Thursday morning.
Jesus taught us that every question has an answer, every problem has a resolution. We need to trust in that, even if the resolution isn't the one we would have chosen. I suspect you can join me in looking back at the times we skipped the ask, seek, and knock steps and wound up doing more like tripping, stumbling, and falling, or worse.
An open mind and, more importantly an open heart, is not something that Jesus will waste. He'll fill them up with truth, understanding, and love and guide us on a path that will bless us and those around us while bringing us closer to Him.
Fill me up Lord! Fill us all up!
No comments:
Post a Comment