Seeking God’s will in my life

I have been seeking the Lord to know His will in my life in the area of my career advancement.

I felt that it is time for me to leave my current job and start seeking a new one. I believe God is leading me out as well. But where? This is an important question which I have learnt to only seek God’s direction and blessing instead of jumping into the next best offer. As companies start to respond to my job applications, it is no longer whether I could find a new job but a question of which one to take up. The dilemma starts here.
Other than that, I have so many questions I have in mind surrounding this departure. Because if this, I started studying the stories of Joseph, Moses and Daniel in greater details. I want to seek to hear God’s guidance by spending time reading His Word as one of the avenue. Not only that, I seek advice from fellow Christians and spent time reading books on seeking God’s will and how to hear Him more accurately. I was desperate for an answer.

Amazingly as I am writing this testimony until this point in time, God asked me, “Should you be spending all these efforts to just know My will for your life or should you be seeking to know Me more deeply as your key motivation?” When God asks a question, very often you will know the answer if you check your heart. The mercy of God is so great. I repented at His correction. He searches my heart deeper within and gently reminded me to seek the source and not the blessing.

Proverbs 3:12, “For whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.”

Nevertheless I would like to share some of the revelations I received during this period of study.

In Exodus 33, God told Moses that He will send His Angel and bring the Israelites into the promised land. Moses asked God to show him His way so that he may know God instead of depending on His Angel. In addition, Moses told God that unless God Himself goes with them, he will not move.

God was pleased and He replied in
Exodus 33:14, “And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.””
Exodus 33:19, “Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you…”

Having read this, I feel that God is telling me that the path towards the job of His choice will be one laid with His grace with supernatural confirmation along the way that “I may know His way” as Moses seek in Exodus 33: 13. Moreover I will have also have “rest” or peace in my heart in my decision.

Isaiah 55:12, “ For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; …”

Looking back, I was led into my current job firmly rooted in the knowledge of being in His will. Trials and tribulations followed but still I knew in my heart it was God’s will for me to preserver in those times even though an exit would be a more logical and wiser decision from a secular point of view. I began to understand that while God may want me to go through some challenges in life, the process leading me into the next season of my life laid with His grace and the point of entry will always be of peace and joy.

Then I asked myself and God what I have accomplished in my job over the past few years. I must admit that there have been a few successes here and there but not one which this really spectacular that I am proud of. My answer is submission to authority, more compassionate towards people and have a deeper of understanding of what it means when people say “I can do nothing of myself without Christ”.

A friend of mine recently shared with me one interesting observation. She said that in Genesis 40:14, it was written that Joseph specifically reminded the chief butler to remember him and ask the Pharaoh to free him from prison when he is out of prison. The chief butler forgot and but 2 full years later, Joseph got the opportunity to interpret the Pharaoh’s dream. However Joseph did not specifically asked the Pharaoh to free him after correctly interpreting the Pharaoh’s dream. Instead, he offered his advice. The way I interpret this observation is that during that 2 more years of imprisonment, Joseph had probably reached a point when he told God that he will not use his own strength and way to get out of prison anymore. He will not make it happen anymore. A God given dream can only be fulfilled by God given way.

Perhaps Joseph might have given up hope from disappointment and despair at some time or another. However I believe somewhere hidden in Joseph’s heart, the hope of his dream still lingers. In one of John Bevere’s sermon titled: Hope, he pointed out that it was amazing to see Joseph’s faithfulness when he continued to interpret people’s dream and give God the glory and honor while all the while he is not seeing his dream coming to pass. In fact, it seems like he is heading in a direction completely opposite of what he dreamt and expected. Such is great faith with regard to his own calling from God despite his own situation.

Then I asked myself, am I ready to move to the next level? I started to ask: how could a prisoner become the right hand man of the Pharaoh overnight? Is this realistic? What gave the Pharaoh such great faith to place Joseph in such a high position? The answer: first, the evident knowledge of God’s anointing upon Joseph. People can see the presence of God upon his life. In other words, favor.

Genesis 41:37-38, “So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?””

And second, the wisdom in Joseph.

Genesis 41:39-40, “Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.””

This is the same case in the story of Daniel.

King Nebuchadnezzar appointed Daniel, a conquered citizen, to serve him because of his exceptional level of wisdom and understanding.

Daniel 1:19-20, “Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.”

And king Nebuchadnezzar also acknowledged the power of the God of Daniel.

Daniel 2:47-48, “The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon.”

Then was Joseph even prepared to serve in the role that the Pharaoh had given him given his long years of captivity? I believed that God’s preparation for Joseph arises from his role in serving Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, and later the keeper of the prison. In both accounts, the bible says:

In the case of Potiphar, Genesis 39:6, “Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate…”

In the case of the prison keeper, Genesis 39:22-23, “And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.”

Both men were able to trust Joseph completely! Joseph himself must have exhibited great integrity and capability to his masters. All these in addition to God’s favor. God actually says that Joseph is a successful man even when he was a slave. As a side track, we can see that God determines man’s success not by the situation he is in or status he has achieved.

Genesis 39:2, “The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.”

Last but not lest, God showed me that apart from Joseph’s catapult from prisoner to become the second most powerful man in Egypt, there was an very important aspect of his life that attributed to his success. The forgiveness of his brothers who sold him to slavery 13 years ago. Joseph could not hold back his tears so many times when his brothers seek his audience after he became Pharaoh right hand man. Lastly he said in Genesis 50:20 to 21:

Genesis 50:20-21, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”

Paul wrote in Acts 24:16:

Acts 24:16, “This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.”

I need to check if there are any tints of bitterness towards anyone in my company due to any offences. God wants us to live free and would expect us to forgive and brush off any wrongs even when we knew we were right. Bitterness could hold me back from where God’s best for my life. This is not a one time adjustment but a life long process.

Hebrews 12:15, “looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;”

Joseph started off as one who told on others

Genesis 37:2, “… Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.”

But God eventually molded him to become a person of great compassion for others before he was promoted to be a man of great stature.

3 John 1:2, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”

From the above understanding and revelation, I strive to position myself to receive God’s blessing by studying the ways of these great men of the Old testimony and continuing to hear from God.

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

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