“I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD.” ~ Lamentations 3:17-18
Because your relationship with the living God is God’s primary call on your life, that call must come first, even before your career plans. It isn’t a question of which vocation you should train for or how much money you can make but rather how God has gifted you and how you can find the vocation He has had in mind for you from the beginning. All too often people head for the training that will bring them quick prosperity.
Jeremiah discovered that the plan of God for his life meant losing his landholdings. He lamented, “I have forgotten what prosperity is” (Lam. 3:17). This in no way means that all God’s children have to be materially poor! In fact, His plans include trusting some of His people with wealth and means. But we are to hold these things lightly and not tightly, remembering that “it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth” (Deut. 8:18). We are intended to be good stewards of the resources He has given us and use them for His kingdom.
When Stuart and I went into missions, my sweet parents could not really understand it. After all, Stuart was doing well in banking, and his career was taking off. My parents had bought a lovely country home in the English lake district and would visit us on the way there for weekends.
One day my mother said wistfully, “I love coming to your house, Jill. God lives here!” “Here” was a tiny cottage in our mission’s community.
Taking a deep breath, I answered, “Yes, Mom, and I would rather live in my cottage with Jesus than in my castle without Him.”
It was true! It was really true. I had known the privilege of wealth, but the privilege of serving the Lord was wealth beyond my wildest dreams. Like Jeremiah, I had “forgotten what prosperity is,” but we had Jesus, and He was enough.
I realized then that there are poor little rich people, but there are also rich little poor people—and I was one of them! Our relationship with the living God had led us to lay down our secular employment in order to serve Him full-time. This was the plan of God for our lives, and it was all good.
What has God gifted you to do? What has He laid on your heart? Diligently seek His plan for your life’s work. You will find the greatest joy and peace when you are in the middle of His will—no matter where it takes you.
