2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
We live in a world where businesses are usually more concerned with the bottom line (profits) than with anything, including the lives of the people who work for them. In times past, a person would come out of school with the hope that he would land a good job with a company who would remain as his employer for the rest of his working life. There was a pride in workmanship and an esprit de corps in a company that saw to it that an employee’s hard work and loyalty was rewarded with job security and good benefits. That is no longer the case. Now, young people coming out of school know that they will work for a number of companies throughout their careers. Often management will be by confrontation rather than team-building. Mergers and other changes will lead to “downsizing” or “restructuring,” translating into loss of jobs and the need to go through transition. If it were not for Jehovah Shalom, God is peace, the picture would be very bleak indeed. But thanks be to Him, it doesn’t have to be like that.
The situation described above is not the only one that causes fear and uncertainty in today’s world. Yet, the approach for how to deal with anything like that is the same. Jehovah Shalom wants us to turn to Him. HE 13: 5-6, “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, ‘I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.’ Let us be bold then, and say, ‘The Lord is my Helper, I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’” My very wise husband, who has been through an 18-month long career transition himself, told me that Jehovah Shalom gave him the message the very day his former job was being eliminated, ‘Your strength and value as a person comes from Me, not from what you do for a living or how much money you make.’ The Lord was standing in the gap for Peter, reminding him and me of a vital truth that applies to each of us. Knowing that really did give Peter the strength to endure the uncertainties of those 18 months. God was there for us, and He is there for you too.
I often cite RO 5: 3-4 in my writing, because its message is so powerful and important. “We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance brings God’s approval, and His approval creates hope.” This view of our trials and temptations to be endured is so very different from the flesh-driven view of throwing up one’s hands to exclaim, “woe is me! Why me?” It is also coupled with our need to take responsibility for any part we play in our own problems. Always shifting blame on to God or other people isn’t what God wants us to do. On the other hand, when we take responsibility for our own actions, Jehovah Shalom is there to give us advice on what to do and peace when we follow it. 2 TIM 1: 7 elaborates on just how Jehovah Shalom is there for us. For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, His Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control.”
Any peace that comes from the world is of a temporary nature. The life of a salesperson surely has periods when sales are good and the money is coming in followed by other times when the opposite is true. If that salesperson views his/her self-worth by how much money is coming in, then any peace felt is ephemeral. God’s perspective is so much different that. JN 14: 27 helps us to see it in focus. “Peace is what I leave with you; it is My own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.” The peace that goes beyond human understanding [PHIL 4: 7] is constantly available and transcends the grave. There is nothing ephemeral about it. It is real and valuable peace and comes to us directly from Jehovah Shalom. No other source can provide it. EPH 5: 18 is a profound statement that sheds amazing light on this issue. “If the Spirit leads you, then you are not subject to the law.” This has nothing to do with saying that we no longer have to obey the laws of where we live. Instead, it is saying that Jehovah Shalom has granted us grace-undeserved merit or favor. Part of that grace is the work of the Holy Spirit Who makes us thirst for righteousness in our lives and Who fuels us to live “in Christ.” It is precisely that grace that makes a person living “in Christ” want to be a solid and responsible citizen. These are the things that bring God’s peace to us.
God expects us to do whatever is within our power to do to help ourselves when we find ourselves in frightening, unsettling conditions like facing career transition. That means we would need to assess the situation and ask ourselves: What can I learn from what happened to me? Often, a situation like this forces us to face painful truths about ourselves. It might be that we got too comfortable in the status quo and didn’t respond to changes that were going on around us. It might be that we trusted the wrong people. It also might be that none of what happened was within our control too. The point is that we take the time to assess what happened as objectively as possible. If it is the loss of one’s job, Jehovah Shalom would surely expect a person to do whatever was possible to learn how to search for a new job and then mount the search. But, there is more to this than what a person does. There is also what a person allows Jehovah Shalom to do in his life. GA 5: 22-23, “But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.” We can take comfort in knowing that when trouble comes to our lives, we are not alone. Jehovah Shalom provides us with His presence and strength to which we can turn. He also provides us with other believers who desire to support and encourage us when the going gets rough. All He asks us to do is to turn to Him and let Him work through them.
PRAYER: O Lord, You inspired Paul to write Christ’s words in RO 16: 33, “I have told you that you will have peace by being united with Me. The world will make you suffer. But be brave! I have defeated the world!” Those are true words to comfort us and are a magnificent manifestation of the profound love You have for us. Dearest Jehovah Shalom, You knew that we would be subjected to trouble and pain because we live in the world. But, You also knew that if we choose not to be of the world, we would have relief from that trouble and pain from You available to us. The nature of Your love for us to forgive our sin and to forget it when we genuinely pledge You our faith in You. You give us Your perspective when You tell us to see the challenges to our faith as opportunities being provided for us to learn to endure, build personal character, gain Your approval, and best of all, to have hope. This hope is the hope of the resurrection, which Christ gives us by being “the first of many brothers” to gain eternal life in heavenly fellowship with You [RO 8: 29]. When we turn to You in times of trouble, You are there for us, never leaving us helpless and abandoned. For that and so much more we humbly offer Your our adoration, worship, trust, obedience, loyalty, honor, glory, praise and thanks. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will begin looking at citations that reveal God as Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts. When we are brought to the understanding that our own resources are inadequate to the situation we find ourselves in, the Lord is there for us. We turn to Him and acknowledge our own limitations, and He strengthens us and equips us to meet whatever our challenge is. That is love that cannot be adequately expressed in words or measured by human means. That is what He has for each of us. Hallelujah! Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn