05 A Job versus a Purpose
September 5
There is an excellent illustration in the Bible that shows the difference between simply having a job and having a clear guiding purpose. It is found in the life of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was in a top position in the court of the Persian king Artaxerxes; he was cupbearer, and he was a highly regarded, trusted, and influential advisor to the king. As prestigious as Nehemiah’s occupation was, it was simply a job for him because his mind was occupied with something else.
Nehemiah was a descendant of one of the large number of Jews who had been carried into captivity by the Babylonians. At the time of the Babylonian captivity, the city of Jerusalem had undergone terrible destruction. Yet, when the Babylonians were defeated by the Persians seventy years later, fifty thousand Jews had returned to Judea and had rebuilt the temple. Then, an effort to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem was thwarted by opposition from neighboring peoples who had convinced King Artaxerxes to issue a decree to stop the work.
When Nehemiah heard that “the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire” (Nehemiah 1:3), the news filled him with grief. He “sat down and wept. For
some days [he] mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:4). Nehemiah’s job might have been prestigious, but his life was clearly shifting in another direction. Is God shifting your direction to line up with His purposes?
Prayer: Father, thank You for the job that I have right now. Yet please reveal to me a purpose beyond my job, a vision that will bring meaning to my life. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Thought: There is a difference between simply having a job and having a clear guiding purpose.
Reading: Psalm 146–147; 1 Corinthians 15:1–28