We all have a job. At some stage in life, day after day, we work. Yet sometimes the daily repetition can turn into a blur of years in or outside the home. For 18 long years, I sat in the basement of a hospital, all alone, and programmed a computer to run the air conditioning. I wondered, how did my repetitious work fit into our calling?
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...” (1 Peter 2:9).
Our current job is not our life. Living God’s way of life, our entire life, is our job.
The computer I programmed was made just south of L.A. The company hired me and moved my family and me to the States. Fast-forward some years, and it turns out that the same system was installed on the submarine James Cameron would use to reach the deepest point of the oceans, the Mariana Trench. They were having trouble with the system, so I was sent to have a look. Flying out on a Wednesday, I arrived and put in a solid day’s work that Friday. Then they asked me, “So what time are you going to be in tomorrow?” Ah, that would be Saturday.
We are in the world, but not of the world—between worlds. What we see and what the world sees as reality are sometimes disconnected. As long as our primary focus is to yield to God, then our current jobs are teaching us how to live God’s way, whether we love our job or not. God sees the end from the start, but we don’t have the full picture. To move forward, we need to have daily faith and develop the trust that, yes, God really does know what He is doing. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder, and the Holy Days are yearly reminders, giving us a glimpse of the big picture and helping us see our lives through God’s eyes.
Joseph went from being a capable servant in a respectable job to prison, unjustly. But even there, he had a job running the prison. Then, when Joseph was called on to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, he gave the credit to God (Genesis 41:15). Joseph had a miserable day job but a greater vision through God’s Spirit.
All those long years at a basement computer, and, somehow, God used me to show a bunch of people how not to work on the Sabbath and help put the third man in history to the deepest part of the ocean.
I’m sure James Cameron, a famous movie director, was aware of why I wasn’t there each Saturday. Without God’s Spirit, it would not have gone as well as it did. He’s not a man who likes to take “no” for an answer.
What about all the people who have watched you at work? What example of keeping God’s Feasts and the Sabbath have they seen?
Together, you and I are a chosen people. With God’s character written into our hearts and mind from daily prayer and Bible study, we are a royal priesthood. So, let’s stand fast and see the salvation of the Lord no matter what our jobs are. If we can do that, then we will be used to do a very powerful work that will last for eternity!
Ben Orchard