From INHERITANCE Issue #5 - March 2010

As I stared down at my computer screen, I began to feel a prideful, yet sinful feeling of frustration and discouragement.

I’m a college graduate! I didn’t go through four years of school for this!

It has been four months since I received my degree from the University of Southern California (USC), and staring me in the face was an application for the nearby Macy’s.

I had to repent for my sinful attitude that evening and many times after as I applied for other temporary jobs during the month. And as job rejections began to come in, God continued to remind me to let go and commit my job situation completely to Him.

I think the past six or so months have truly been a period in which my true faith in God has been put to the test. This time though, I had to do more than simply quote Bible verses such as Romans 8:28.

This time it was a battle to replace feelings of doubt with prayer, rejections with thanksgiving to God, and to use my unemployed life for His greater glory.

Contentment
Summer had started off well for me. Commencement day came and gone and I realized that getting a job was going to be unlikely, but it didn’t bother me too much. The reason was that almost immediately after graduation, I jumped on board the fast-moving train that was my extremely ministry-filled summer.

From graduation in mid-May until the end of June, I was busy working with Chinese Bible Mission (CBM), a church-planting and evangelistic organization in the San Francisco Bay Area, planning and directing CBM’s first college conference, which took place the last weekend in June.

Every weekday from the beginning of June until the middle of July, I had the opportunity to teach and mentor a very active group of K-1st graders at my church’s daylong Bible camp. July was my month to lead worship for my church’s Sunday service. And the 11th year in a row (four years as a counselor), I spent a week in August counseling at CBM’s high school camp.

I was also asked to contribute to inheritance during the summer. All this was on top of a Tuesday night college/career Bible study, the Lord’s Day, and my personal quiet times.

I think because my summer was so filled with ministry, I was able to keep my mind on God. There was little time to think about much else. I was still job searching, but I didn’t allow myself the time to let my lack of a job rule my emotions.

God was, and is there, and that’s what kept me going. I learned that summer about contentment, and that contentment is keeping your eyes fixed on God so that nothing can distract you.

Surrender
As summer ended, I revised my resume again and focused more intently on the job search. Within the span of a few weeks, I had applied to nearly 100 jobs that were related to my area of study at USC. But as the days rolled on, the automated rejection emails began arriving, and the number of qualified job openings dwindled. The busy days of summer had long gone; boredom and apprehension began to take its place.

A brother-in-Christ reminded me via a Twitter post that whether or not I get a job was in the Lord’s hands before an interview and remains in His hands after. Needless to say, this theological truth is far easier to tweet than to put into practice.

The role of God’s sovereignty in my life was important to how I understood the hardship God was allowing me to go through. Did I see them as an opportunity to grow in my faith and seek the Lord’s will, or were they failures on my part?

I decided to spend some of my idle time studying about God’s providence. Jerry Bridges’ Trusting God was an extreme encouragement to me (along with the Bible) as it explained God’s role in times of blessing and hardship. I was encouraged that God is sovereign over all nations, all nature, and the life of every person, and that I can trust God because He is also loving.

Most importantly, I was reminded that all things were created for God’s glory (Rev. 4:11). I was convicted to ask myself if thanking and glorifying God would be my first response if I had gotten a job immediately? To be totally honest, I was unsure of my answer. I needed so desperately to surrender my desires and dreams for a career to God and let Him lead me to a job in a way that would bring Him the most glory.

A Paradigm Shift
A couple weeks after I applied to Macy’s, I received an e-mail from them saying that I did not meet their qualifications to work as a sales associate. I also got an interview at the nearby Apple store, only to leave 15 minutes later with the familiar invitation to try again next time. I gave a heavy sigh as I pondered the somewhat surprising predicament.

I probably have twice the schooling of most of their applicants. What’s so hard about folding clothes, working a register, or selling computers?

It was at that point when God again reminded me of His guiding hand in my life. Many of my friends unfortunately don’t see a sovereign God controlling their lives.

They blame their circumstances on the recession, or on President Obama. They blame the companies they apply to for overlooking untapped talent, or USC for not preparing them well enough. They blame themselves for not trying hard enough or not being at the right places.

I, myself, was guilty of this defeatist attitude by even rationalizing that I was overqualified to work at Macy’s. That might have been true, however, I was prideful to think such a godless thought.

Through my reading of Scripture, I was reminded that I have a God who is more powerful than a recession and already has a job chosen for me. My attitude towards my humbling sales associate rejection changed from one focused on me to one on God, who was telling me that even a temporary retail job was not His will.

Awaiting With Patience
I’ve known the verse that says

⁴For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, (Psalm 90:4 NASB)

and I think this time in my life is really helping me to examine if I truly believe this verse and trust in God’s sovereignty, knowing that He sees my life from a different perspective and knows what lies ahead. Jerry Wong, the senior pastor of my church, said, “In the life that we travel, it’s best to be a passenger rather than the driver because there’s someone who is much wiser and who actually knows the way”. Though God may take us through some perilous turns and we may feel the urge to grab the wheel, it’s our responsibility to sit back and enjoy the ride, knowing that the destination will be unlike anything we expect, and will bring God the most glory.

As God leads us, what are some ways to stay optimistic about unemployment?

Stay patiently rooted in the Word and in prayer — Read about God’s sovereignty and His providence in the lives of His servants and pray that you would have a Christ-like attitude.

Use the idle time to glorify Him — Rick Holland, college pastor at Grace Community Church, recently reminded that singleness allows unhindered service to the Lord without a burden of a spouse (1 Cor. 7:32-35). I think it works similarly for unemployment, as we have more available time before we are “married” to our job. (This means if you’re single AND unemployed like me, you have no excuse!)

Use the idle time to increase your skills and do what you enjoy — One unemployed at our church is traveling the world and visiting friends all over the country. I’ve been able to participate in a number of local USC alumni and recruiting events. I’ve also been able to read almost a book a week and learn a new program that will be helpful for my engineering career.

Get support and prayer from others — I’ve been able to meet consistently with one of my closest, godliest friends and also the pastoral intern at my church. Not only does this provide me close fellowship with these two, working brothers-in-Christ, but it also allows them to pray for me and remind me of God’s presence in my life.

Pray and consider every opportunity — If we believe that God knows what’s best for us, then we should see every opportunity as a possible open door. My attitude was poor when I was applying for a retail job, and we should come to the Lord in prayer with humbleness and thanksgiving for any and every opportunity, including our times of unemployment.

In terms of God’s sovereignty, the paths our lives take, and the ways we react, I think Jerry Bridges best sums it up:

“From our limited vantage point, our lives are marked by an endless series of contingencies. We frequently find ourselves, instead of acting as we planned, reacting to an unexpected turn of events. We make plans but are often forced to change those plans. But there are no contingencies with God. Our unexpected, forced change of plans is a part of His plan. God is never surprised; never caught off guard; never frustrated by unexpected developments. God does as He pleases, and that which pleases Him is always for His glory and our good.”