Taking It to Work:
Safety first! We hear it all the time, and 99% of the time, it’s good advice. Thousands of employees get hurt every year because they don’t always follow the guidelines that would keep them safe. It hurts the productivity of the workplace, and it makes those already ridiculous Worker’s Comp rates skyrocket. If you’re a business owner, you know.
So, in general, safe is good, but there’s something better than following the safety guidelines, it’s following the Lord’s leading in your life. And I’m sorry to say, that path is not always the safest.
Now this is a very tough thing for most in culture, as we have been taught, at least lately, to avoid even the slightest sickness, the slightest injury, or any action or mistake that could be judged by our peers as irresponsible. YouTube is filled with people being ridiculed by their “fails”, risking . . . but falling and crashing attempting to defy the odds in return for some achievement they deemed worth the risk.
Now, I’m not saying that’s smart or dumb, or not funny sometimes, but for us, as Christ followers, there are two other dimensions to our risk-taking that we need to consider: listening and obeying. I can tell you from personal experience, the greatest blessings in my life have been hearing His call, and following it, sometimes into situations others deemed a bit too risky, but I wasn’t gambling. I was following. In fact, the stronger His call, the less I worried about the yellow flags and the sound advice of those really not understanding. I’ve learned there is far more risk in going the way I think is better. When Jonah did that, he ended up in a fish; I usually end up in some sort of pickle.
Scripture says, if we are truly following Him, no matter how risky it seems to us or to others, it is still the absolute best path you can take. Our Lord knows where He’s going, and what’s coming. And if He is alright with it, well, in faith, we should be too.
So, if you’re thinking about accepting that challenging role, jumping in on that new business venture, or beginning anew with that company in another state, weigh the risks, but above all, seek Him for His guidance. If He says, “Go!”, then go, even if it not the safest thing you’ve ever done, as His Word works in you, today.
Deut 31:8 (ESV) – It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
John 8:12 (ESV) – Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Joshua 24:24 (ESV) – And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.”
Acts 5:29 (ESV) – But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men…”
Jer 29:11 (ESV) – For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Listening to the Holy Spirit (Rhema):
I am pleased with faith. As a father is pleased with a son who trusts him, or a daughter who desires his strength, so am I pleased with the child who walks according to faith. Trust is the essence of faith, but where there is no doubt, there exists no faith, for even he who is sure of My hand, fears. It is the fear that makes the faith strong – the desire and confidence for My hand which remains invisible until the past reveals My motion. He who risks on My call, the one who steps out without knowledge, but with the assurance of He who saves, it is he who finds the way of the blessed – those who have testimony of My great work in their years. The timid hear me not and do not trust, that their way would remain in safety, but they too die and their story is alone theirs. Hear My call, verify My Spirit, eat My Word as nourishment for decision, then follow in faith. I lead and already understand the way.
