WISDOM FOR LIVING DAILY DEVOTIONAL
MARCH 12, 2023
TOPIC: BE FAITHFUL IN YOUR WORK
BY T. O. BANSO
“He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance” (Psalm 78:70-71 New King James Version)
Human lives are in stages and phases. We move from one season to another. There are some things we must do before we get to where God is taking us to. God will not take you there unless you pass through some stages and undergo some transformation, all relevant to where He is taking you.
However, not everything that God allows us to pass through is attractive or pleasant to us. There are stages or phases we detest. But how we fare in such circumstances contributes to whether we arrive at where God had planned for us. This is, particularly, true of the legitimate work, vocation, or employment you have at any point in life. I said “legitimate” because some people engage in what is against the law and sinful. God does not approve of that. Such people must give their lives to Jesus and find legitimate work to do.
Your current work or employment may not be your dream job, but if it is legitimate, please be faithful. In other words, be “Steadfast, dedicated, dependable, and worthy of trust” (Holman Bible Dictionary). Be faithful in your work at every stage or phase of your life. It is a stepping stone to where God wants to take you. Don’t put up a wrong attitude on your job. You may be shutting the door of advancement or promotion against yourself.
I recall the story by a very senior political officeholder about how a secretary in his office as a university lecturer was very diligent and would keep typing his work while others have closed. They would leave the office together late and he would take him in his car and drop him off at a point to go home. He used to do that for him many times without complaining. He was a junior staff without much education but was very efficient.
Sometimes later, the lecturer got a top international job and the person he was working directly with, through whom he got the job, said they needed a proficient secretary who was very familiar with their kind of work. This man mentioned his former secretary. His boss had no problem with the recommendation since he had worked with him in the past and was satisfied with his performance. That’s how this secretary was invited. He travelled abroad and was given the job. His story changed. He later furthered his education on the job. If this secretary was not faithful as a typist in a Law Faculty at a university, he would never have had the privilege of working at The Hague!
Do you know what the job you’re currently doing is preparing you for? As you are complaining or grumbling, or being lazy people are watching you and God is watching you too. When there is an opportunity to recommend anyone for a higher position, do you think anyone will recommend you?
Whatever stage or phase you are in life in your profession, career, or business, be faithful. Do your work faithfully. Where you are today is not the end. You are on a journey. You may be doing some things now and you feel nobody takes note of them, commends, or rewards you. Continue to be faithful. Where you are now is not your end; it is your stepping stone. But unfaithfulness may make you not go beyond there.
Probably you are familiar with the story of David. He was a shepherd boy. That was his job at that stage in his life. But he was not meant to be taking care of sheep forever. God used this job to prepare him for a greater assignment He had for him in the future. Even when the Prophet Samuel came to his father’s house to anoint a king, David’s father didn’t invite him. His father must have felt that if God wanted to anoint one of his sons as king, it wasn’t likely going to be David. So he was left out until God rejected all his brothers who were present. They all had to keep standing until David, who was at that point sent for, arrived. When he arrived, that was the end of the search for a king (1 Samuel 16:1-13). David was a shepherd boy at the time he was anointed but he was also a man after God’s heart.
In 1 Samuel 13:14, Samuel told Saul, “But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you” (New King James Version). God was in love with David. He must have watched Him and how he had lived his life. How have you been living your life, especially regarding your work?
Referring to how God rejected King Saul and chose David, Acts 13:22 says, “And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will’” (New King James Version).
David was a shepherd boy and he told us how he trusted God on his job as he faced the hazards of his vocation, which contributed to preparing him to confront Goliath. He believed that as God helped him to kill the lion and bear, He would also help him to kill Goliath.
He told Saul who, together with other Israelite soldiers, was afraid of Goliath, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God” (1 Samuel 17:34-36 New King James Version). God honoured David’s faith. He killed Goliath. Be faithful in your current work. God is preparing you for something.
David the shepherd boy became David the king. When God came for him, he was at his duty post. He wasn’t lazy and complaining. Psalm 78:70-71 says, “He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance” (New King James Version). God had prepared him for the work of shepherding His people. Verse 72 says, “So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands” (New King James Version).
Before God called Elisha, who served Elijah and succeeded him as a prophet, he was a farmer. He wasn’t idle. Neither did he apply to be a prophet just as David didn’t apply to be king! But God saw something in Elisha that made Him tell Elijah in 1 Kings 19:16b that he should anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah as a prophet in his place.
Verse 19 says, “So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him” (New King James Version). Did you see that Elisha was at his duty post as a farmer when his ‘promotion letter’ came? He was a faithful farmer who later became a faithful prophet!
Instead of some people being faithful in their current jobs, they are busy scheming and jostling for promotion. Psalm 75:6 says no one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt a man but it is God who judges: He brings one down, He exalts another. Be faithful.
This is how Amos 1:1 introduces the book of Amos, which records the message God gave the Prophet Amos: “The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa — what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel” (New International Version). In other words, the Prophet Amos was formerly a shepherd or sheep breeder before God called him.
Amos told Amaziah the priest of Bethel exactly this when he warned him (Amos) not to prophesy anymore at Bethel, because it was the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom but to go to the land of Judah, being a native of Tekoa in Judah, to prophesy. Amos answered, “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel” (Amos 7:14-15 New International Version)
Amos wasn’t a failure who was looking for a job and decided to go into giving fake prophecies to get something to eat! God must have found him faithful to have committed His words to Him as His messenger. Be faithful in what you are doing at present. It has something to do with your future.
God described Moses as faithful in all His house (Numbers 12:7). Hebrews 3:2 says Jesus was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. Verse 5 also talks about how Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant. Be faithful. It is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2). Luke 16:10-12 says, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?” (New King James Version).
Do your work faithfully. Whatever your vocation or profession is, work as one who will receive a reward from God, not man. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24 New International Version).
Proverbs 28:20a says a faithful man will abound with blessings but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. Jesus said, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods” (Matthew 24:45-47 New King James Version). In the parables of Jesus, the servants who were faithful were rewarded (Matthew 25:21, 23; Luke 19:17-19). Be faithful in your work.
TAKE ACTION!
If you are not born again, you need to give your life to Jesus now. I urge you to take the following steps: *Admit that you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your life. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start attending a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church. There they will teach you how to grow in the Kingdom of God.
Kindly say this prayer now: O Lord God, I come unto You today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and God raised Him on the third day. I repent of my sins and confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I surrender my life to Jesus now and invite Him into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me and making me a child of God.
I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You will need to join a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church in your area where they will teach you how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things and become all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. The Lord be with you.
PRAYER POINTS: I repent of any unfaithfulness in me in the performance of my work. I shall not sabotage myself through unfaithfulness thereby frustrating my promotion. Holy Spirit, help me to do my legitimate work faithfully. I shall not grumble, complain, or be lazy. I shall do my work as working for the Lord, not for men because I know that the Lord will reward me.
(For over 900 in-depth and powerful messages by T. O. Banso, visit www.cedarministry.org).
T. O. Banso is the President of Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
Phone No: +2348155744752, +2348033113523
WhatsApp No: +2349081295947
Email: cedarministryintl@yahoo.com,
cedarministryng@gmail.com
Website: www.cedarministry.org
