Pray for God's Help...But Don't Expect Instant Results
Do you pray for God's help at work? When you do, does He answer you?
Praying for His help is a good habit to develop at work. It's one way to sanctify your work. But there's a danger here you need to avoid.
If you work hard and focus on results everyday and meet deadlines, you may get impatient with God. Sometimes He doesn't answer your prayers; sometimes He takes longer than you'd like to answer your prayers. You have to remember that God answers prayers in His own way, in His own time. Don't start demanding that He do things on your schedule!
I've learned over time that it's silly to think that God will just do what you ask Him to do. First of all, you may be asking for something bad. Even if you don't know it's bad, God knows.
One time I asked Him to help me succeed in becoming rich. I really did. I figured when I became rich I could have more money to give to the poor. I worked for a lot of people who were rich and saw how so many of them squandered their money indulging themselves. I saw how little they used their money to help others. I, of course, would be different. I would use my money to do God's Will. So I proposed a kind of bargain: God make me rich. I won't be like these other rich people; I'll use my money to do Your Holy Will. I'll help the poor and disadvantaged.
Fortunately God saw through this nonsense. My guess is that He realized I'd probably become corrupt like those other folks I saw in my work who had a lot of money. I don't know this for sure, but in time you get to know yourself and it wouldn't surprise me if God put me through years of struggle to shake out things that needed shaking out, rather than making me rich.
But sometimes you ask God for something that you know is OK. Let's say, for example, you need to increase revenue in your company. You're pretty sure that your work is honorable and serves the common good. But your revenue just isn't sufficient to meet your family's needs. If revenue doesn't increase, you'll have to go out of business. You're doing all you can do increase revenue, but things aren't working out. You pray for God's help.
You wait...and wait.
Eventually, you start to see results. But it took so long! Now at least there's some light at the end of the tunnel. But God took a long time to help. You were pulling your hair out; you were anxious, worried about the future. Why did He put you through all this?
I figure it's something like this: he wants you to learn a lesson and grow in holiness. He wants you to learn to rely on Him. And part of relying on Him requires us to be patient. If He answered your prayer quickly, how could you learn patience?
You think you're already patient? Okay. Maybe He wants you to understand that to really rely on Him means you don't get anxious. Anxiety disturbs the peace of your soul. So He's trying to teach you to treasure that peace and avoid anxiety as best you can.
The point is that God does things in His own way in His own time. It's good that we pray for His help, even for the smallest things. One of the ways we can sanctify our work is to always pray for His help. Do your best, but pray for His help and learn to rely on Him. You can't bother yourself with whether He's going to do just what you ask, or whether He's going to do what you ask in the time frame you decide is best. Keep working, keep praying. Do your work and let God do His.
Praying for His help is a good habit to develop at work. It's one way to sanctify your work. But there's a danger here you need to avoid.
If you work hard and focus on results everyday and meet deadlines, you may get impatient with God. Sometimes He doesn't answer your prayers; sometimes He takes longer than you'd like to answer your prayers. You have to remember that God answers prayers in His own way, in His own time. Don't start demanding that He do things on your schedule!
I've learned over time that it's silly to think that God will just do what you ask Him to do. First of all, you may be asking for something bad. Even if you don't know it's bad, God knows.
One time I asked Him to help me succeed in becoming rich. I really did. I figured when I became rich I could have more money to give to the poor. I worked for a lot of people who were rich and saw how so many of them squandered their money indulging themselves. I saw how little they used their money to help others. I, of course, would be different. I would use my money to do God's Will. So I proposed a kind of bargain: God make me rich. I won't be like these other rich people; I'll use my money to do Your Holy Will. I'll help the poor and disadvantaged.
Fortunately God saw through this nonsense. My guess is that He realized I'd probably become corrupt like those other folks I saw in my work who had a lot of money. I don't know this for sure, but in time you get to know yourself and it wouldn't surprise me if God put me through years of struggle to shake out things that needed shaking out, rather than making me rich.
But sometimes you ask God for something that you know is OK. Let's say, for example, you need to increase revenue in your company. You're pretty sure that your work is honorable and serves the common good. But your revenue just isn't sufficient to meet your family's needs. If revenue doesn't increase, you'll have to go out of business. You're doing all you can do increase revenue, but things aren't working out. You pray for God's help.
You wait...and wait.
Eventually, you start to see results. But it took so long! Now at least there's some light at the end of the tunnel. But God took a long time to help. You were pulling your hair out; you were anxious, worried about the future. Why did He put you through all this?
I figure it's something like this: he wants you to learn a lesson and grow in holiness. He wants you to learn to rely on Him. And part of relying on Him requires us to be patient. If He answered your prayer quickly, how could you learn patience?
You think you're already patient? Okay. Maybe He wants you to understand that to really rely on Him means you don't get anxious. Anxiety disturbs the peace of your soul. So He's trying to teach you to treasure that peace and avoid anxiety as best you can.
The point is that God does things in His own way in His own time. It's good that we pray for His help, even for the smallest things. One of the ways we can sanctify our work is to always pray for His help. Do your best, but pray for His help and learn to rely on Him. You can't bother yourself with whether He's going to do just what you ask, or whether He's going to do what you ask in the time frame you decide is best. Keep working, keep praying. Do your work and let God do His.
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