It’s good to make plans; it’s good to write down goals, but let us remember that where we are at this very moment in our lives is God’s will for us. We need to learn to be patient with ourselves and with God. Many are dissatisfied with their lifework. It may be that their surroundings are uncongenial; their time is occupied with commonplace work, when they think themselves capable of higher responsibilities; often their efforts seem to them to be unappreciated or fruitless; their future is uncertain. {HDL 11.1} Let us remember that while the work we have to do may not be our choice, it is to be accepted as God’s choice for us. {HDL 11.2} Whether pleasing or unpleasing, we are to do the duty that lies nearest. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Ecclesiastes 9:10. {HDL 11.3}.
Our plans are not always God’s plans. He may see that it is best for us and for His cause to refuse our very best intentions, as He did in the case of David. But of one thing we may be assured, He will bless and use in the advancement of His cause those who sincerely devote themselves and all they have to His glory. If He sees it best not to grant their desires He will counterbalance the refusal by giving them tokens of His love and entrusting to them another service. {HDL 12.1} We are sometimes impatient and instead of going to God and spending time with Him to figure out why He has us where we are and what His plan is for us at this very moment, we instead complain. In His loving care and interest for us, often He who understands us better than we understand ourselves refuses to permit us selfishly to seek the gratification of our own ambition. He does not permit us to pass by the homely but sacred duties that lie next us. Often these duties afford the very training essential to prepare us for a higher work. Often our plans fail that God’s plans for us may succeed. {HDL 12.2}. The best way to be at peace is to pray and read God’s word, the Bible. When we are in a hurry, we tend to go for what God did not plan for us. In the future life, the mysteries that here have annoyed and disappointed us will be made plain. We shall see that our seemingly unanswered prayers and disappointed hopes have been among our greatest blessings {HDL 13.2}. Even if you are unhappy with where you are at the moment, it does not permit you not to work hard. We are to look upon every duty, however humble, as sacred because it is a part of God’s service. Our daily prayer should be, “Lord, help me to do my best. Teach me how to do better work. Give me energy and cheerfulness. Help me to bring into my service the loving ministry of the Saviour.”
Let those who feel that their work is not appreciated, and who crave a position of greater responsibility, consider that “promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another.” Psalm 75:6, 7. Every man has his place in the eternal plan of heaven. Whether we fill that place depends upon our own faithfulness in co-operating with God. {HDL 15.2}We need to beware of self-pity. Never indulge the feeling that you are not esteemed as you should be, that your efforts are not appreciated, that your work is too difficult. Let the memory of what Christ has endured for us silence every murmuring thought. We are treated better than was our Lord. “Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not.” Jeremiah 45:5. The Lord has no place in His work for those who have a greater desire to win the crown than to bear the cross. He wants men who are more intent upon doing their duty than upon receiving their reward—men who are more solicitous for principle than for promotion. {HDL 16.1}If any are qualified for a higher position, the Lord will lay the burden, not alone on them, but on those who have tested them, who know their worth, and who can understandingly urge them forward. It is those who perform faithfully their appointed work day by day, who in God’s own time will hear His call, “Come up higher.” {HDL 17.1}
Be patient with yourself; be patient with God. You will reach your goals, have better days, and have strength for those not-so-good days.
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