The Dignity of Work

Morning, everyone. Good morning to those at home who are watching by this video. Good morning. Welcome. It’s a privilege to be able to talk with you this morning, to share with you this morning. As you’ve heard, we’re in the middle of a series on work. And today we’re looking at delighting in work. We’re looking at being excited by work. It’s something that you often don’t hear people combine those two words together. But hopefully you’re going to see as we go through this message why we should.

As Alan mentioned, I won an Olympic medal in 1988. And oftentimes when you’re watching the Olympic games, you’ll see the athletes interviewed after they’ve performed, after they’ve won a medal. And they’re seated in the studio, NBC has got them sitting there, and they look great. Hair coiffed back, tight clothes, just look like they’re made for this moment. And sometimes NBC will maybe do a 30 second/40 second cutaway summarizing a little bit about their training, showing them at home, maybe showing them with a couple of friends, and then they flip right back to the studio where they’ll then ask them often inane questions, but they’ll ask them nonetheless. And so, I wanted just to clarify a couple of things for you. When you do see those images, you need to be aware of what’s gone on prior to that taking place. It looks glamorous and it looks just wonderful. But here’s the typical day of any Olympic athlete. At least this was my day when I was training in 1988 for the Seoul Olympics.

You’re up at 5:00. You’re at the pool by 5:30. I would swim from 5:30-7:30, home, breakfast, bed. I’d be up by 9:00, snack just to refuel, be at the gym from 10-12. You lift weights, go home, lunch, bed. Get back up by 1:30, snack because you’ve got to get the food going through your system, rest up until about 3:00, back at the pool at 3:00, stretch, 1000 sit ups, stretch again, in the water by 4. Swim from 4-6:00, sometimes 6:30, home, dinner, bed. That’s it. Sign me up. Where do I get a day like that? But that’s the job. And you do that day in, day out, day in, day out. You do it when the neighbors have had a party and you didn’t sleep until 2:00. You do it when you’re burned from chlorine and your hair is starting to go yellow, and you’ll still get up the next morning. Why would you do that? Why do you put your body, put your mind, through that kind of pressure and through that kind of pain? With no guarantees, by the way. No guarantees.

Well, as a believer, it’s very simple. When you come to Mark 7, for instance, you see how Jesus is referenced by people. You see them mentioned in Mark 7. They refer to Jesus Christ, that he’s done all things well. Everything he did, he did exceptionally well. He was thorough. He was diligent. And he built a reputation from it. So, as believers, that’s how we approach work. That’s how we approach our 40/50/60 hour a week job, our career, with that kind of enthusiasm. God pays attention to this. God is a detail God. He is a detail God. And there’s just no way he’s going to have us doing something for 40/50 hours a week and not take joy in tracking with us, not take joy in following how we’re doing, not design it for us. So, when we look at Mark 7 and I professes a believer, here is my role model to follow. It’s Jesus Christ. And he does all things well. That’s the job. That’s the benchmark for us.

And so, today we’re going to be looking at certain scriptures from David’s life. Before we get there, though, we’re going to look at what it tells us in Ecclesiastes 9:10. And I want to encourage you today. We’re living in a different work situation for most of us. We’re living in a different work environment. And sometimes we get jaded. Sometimes we can become fatigued. Sometimes we can suffer from consequences or circumstances that we’re now doing. But nevertheless, we keep going. We keep going.

In Ecclesiastes 9:10 we’re exhorted. This is written by Solomon, David’s son. And Solomon writes,

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.”

Real simple. No ambiguity. Just straight up. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” It’s a command. It is a command. Whatever you hand finds to do, do it with all your might as long as you’re happy. Whatever you hand finds to do, do with all your might as long as your work colleagues are nice people. No. It’s a command. Whatever you’re going to do, do it thoroughly. Do it diligently. Why? Because time is limited. Time is limited. Second part of verse 10 says,

“For there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.”

Solomon is pretty clear. Time is limited. Now, Solomon is not being fatalistic here. What he is doing is being deliberate. He is wanting us to be very clear. The time that we work, the time that we have to work, is limited. Therefore, approach it diligently.

Moses adopts the same approach. And it was great singing Psalm 90 last week in and hearing Peter talk some about it. But Moses talks the same in Psalm 90. He says, “Hey, if things are good, we’ll get to 70 years. Maybe if they’re a little better we’ll get to 80 years, and then we die.” It’s not hugely motivating when you think of it like that until you understand what he then goes on and says. He goes on to mention and goes on to ask God to help us to number our days. Help us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Basically, what he’s saying is, life’s short, help us be smart about it. Help us think accurately about it. Help us think correctly about it.

These verses might tempt us to think, “Well, these guys are talking about work and life being a little pointless.” But on the contrary, what they’re saying is, it’s short, live it well. It’s short, make it count. Our time and effort matter. And God speaks about it very, very clearly through his Word. And this is where we go, by the way, to find it first. There are some great books you can buy — some great books about careers, about jobs, about focus, about all those kinds of things that you can find helpful in a professional work environment. But come to Scripture first. Come to the Bible first. Because if it’s important enough to write all that peripheral stuff about an aspect of life, trust me, God’s dealt with it first in here. So, we come here to predicate our response upon what God says about it first and to know what he says about it first. He’s interested in the details. He’s interested in the details. And so, he’s interested in our work. Fifty hours a week we spend oftentimes. He wants to be a part of it.

So, today in looking at the dignity of work, we’re going to look at several aspects of David’s life, particularly around fighting Goliath. And one of the issues or one of the habits that we’ve got to see when we look at David to start with is his daily faithfulness to a routine job. His daily faithfulness to a routine job. We hear about successful people, and we hear about their motivation. And oftentimes we’re encouraged to look for things that motivate us. But honestly, success, when you really get to the highest of achievement, isn’t so much about being motivated. It’s about being disciplined. It’s about being disciplined and following through. Motivation comes and goes. 4:00 in the morning, when you are still burning of chlorine from the night before, you don’t want to rest on motivation to get you out of that bed at 5:00 when it’s raining. You just need to be disciplined. Get your feet out of the bed, turn off the alarm clock, turn off the lights as you get out the door, get out the door, grab your gear and go. That’s it. It’s not so much motivation, but it’s discipline. And when you look at David’s life, you see a disciplined life. Daily discipline matters far more than massive motivation ever will. And we see this in David.

So, when Samuel comes to Jessie, David’s dad, to anoint the next king of Israel or future king of Israel. David’s brothers are present, but David’s not. David’s out looking after sheep. He’s out working for his dad. And Samuel goes through them all, all the brothers. David’s not there. And Samuel is waiting for God to show him, “Hey, who’s this going to be?” And remember what God has told Samuel before this even happens. God has made it really clear, “Hey, I value the heart. I value the things you can’t see. That’s what I value in a man.” And so, we read in verse 11,

“Then Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.’ And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him, for this is he.’ And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.”

People, when it comes to work, it is God who sees and God who elevates. It’s God who sees and God who elevates. I’m not saying that it’s not wrong to set objectives, that it’s not wrong to have goals, and that it’s not wrong to aspire to improve and to lead appropriately. But ultimately, that gets left in God’s hands. We see that God doesn’t need David to be present when he brings Samuel to meet his brothers. When we do what we are tasked to do, Monday to Friday or beyond, that’s what we focus on to glorify God. We give it to him as an offering. We leave the rest in his hands. We leave the rest in his hands. Samuel didn’t see David. David was the youngest kid out of the group. Jesse and David wouldn’t have dreamed of what David was being equipped to do right then, of what the keeping of sheep and the way David went about it, what was being developed in David.

In 1 Samuel 17 David arrives at the battlefield and learns about Goliath’s threat. This is a story we’ve heard over and over. We hear it in Sunday school when we see the flannel board pictures, and there’s a huge Goliath, and there’s a little David. And so, we’ve seen it from when we’re so young. But I want us to look carefully at some of these verses and notice the detail of David. David comes to some of the men’s attention. They bring him before Saul. He’s just a lowly shepherd boy. And he says to Saul, “Don’t be afraid. I’ll fight Goliath.” And Saul can’t get his head around this. And David explains, “Hey, when I’m looking after my dad’s sheep and a bear or a lion comes and takes a sheep, I go out and I rescue the sheep from it. Oh, and if it comes back, and comes back and attacks me, I take it by its head and kill it. That’s it. So, let me go out and fight.” And because we know the end of the story it’s so easy to rush by. Just think about this. If you are the person between a bear and a sheep, you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hungry animal, hungry wild animal, living off instinct and you’re in between it and its meal. This is a bad day.

And I when I wrote that, I thought it’s kind of funny. But think about it. It’s a bad day. This is the worst day for a shepherd. This is when the shepherd potentially loses his life. So, it would make sense for David to go home to Jesse, let the sheep go, it’s only one. And say to Jesse, “Hey, good news/bad news. Bad news, we lost a sheep. Good news, I’m alive. I’m here, Dad. We made it through.” And springtime rolls around again. And coming from New Zealand, sheep proliferate. There are gazillions of them every spring. You’re getting them back and more. So, don’t sweat it. It’s one sheep. Not David. Not David. David goes after the bear, goes after the lion, rescues the sheep. I can’t help but wonder, and I don’t want to try and read God’s mind, but part of me wonders when God calls him a man after his own heart, that’s part of what he’s referring to. This guy goes after and protects the innocent. This guy goes after and protects something and some creature that is beyond help. And when I look at Jesus Christ, I wonder if that’s what God has in mind when he says that about David. This is a guy after my own heart. He goes out after those who are defenseless, puts his life on the line, and brings them back home.

David’s not looking for a glamor role. It’s not like he’s out there taking selfies of him and the bear and hoping that he makes it on the cover of “Shepherd’s Monthly.” He’s just doing the job. He’s just doing the job, as dangerous and as risky as it is. And he’s literally leaving his life in the hands of God to go and do his job. He would have had boring, mundane days that were days when he probably played the lyre, learned how to play this musical instrument. It’s kind of like a miniature harp. But he probably would have had days where he’s just sitting, plucking away, that to us would seem hugely boring and maybe even to him did seem boring. But then he’s fighting a bear. So, these wild fluctuations of boredom and then just frantic activity.

And so, as we exercise determination, endurance, and self-control, God acts. God grows. God deepens. God nurtures. God matures. We just can’t see it happening. We just don’t see it happening. God prepares us through our diligence and commitment to ordinary tasks. It’s what others might see as beneath them. It’s what others might see as mind-numbingly pathetic. We’re not called to make those judgment calls. We’re called to just do the job diligently. David’s probably playing this instrument at these times of nothing happening not thinking for a heartbeat that it’s going to be that very skill set that God develops within him that brings him before Saul when Saul is plagued by an evil spirit. It’s not his shepherding abilities. It’s not that that brings him before Saul. It’s the skill sets that are developed off the side. And I want to encourage you within your jobs, you’re going to be developing habits and skill sets that many of you probably aren’t even aware of right now. But there may come a day where all of a sudden, it’s like, “Oh!” You think about how many bad days we just want to forget. I know when I’ve had a bad day, I’m not looking to make it sort of a poster in my office. I just want to leave it, be done with it, and move on. But we can see from possibly one of the worst days in David’s career, God uses it.

How do we respond when we’re finding our work boring? How do we respond when we’re finding our work uninspiring? How are we responding now when some of us are working from home under no one’s supervision? Anybody can look good in front of a webcam on a computer. That’s easy. But once it goes off, how are you responding? Q2 just finished — end of quarter 2, June 30th. What would it be like if God was to have a performance review and just wanted to review the last quarter of this year? Wants to sit down with us tomorrow and have a performance review. And this is God, by the way. This isn’t a boss that you can kind of, “Well, here’s how I see it kind of thing.” It’s God, he knows. He knows the thinking that went on behind it. What would it look like?

Sometimes we can think that our first responsibility in our job is to witness, is to be in that job, first and foremost, to witness about our faith. And it is important. It is important. Romans 10:14-15 talks about the importance of verbally talking about the gospel, sharing the gospel message. But just as importantly initially in that job is working diligently so that people can see you really mean it. You are here with a purpose. You are here focused to do the best job you can for your employer. That’s the first job.

When I came back from the 1988 Olympics, I got asked to speak to a lot of companies, a lot of churches, and a lot of church youth groups. And oftentimes the youth group pastors would throw up a softball question thinking they knew my response, thinking they knew what the answer would be. So, they’d throw up this question: So, obviously when you were at the Olympics you were looking for opportunities to witness and share your faith, correct? And you see them sort of sit back and smile and wait for my response. And it was very different to what they were expecting. I wasn’t there first and foremost to do that. I was there to win. That is my job. That’s why I trained six hours a day, to front up in that competition, in that cauldron, and perform diligently. That was the job. Now, from that, many opportunities came to witness and show my faith. How do you do it for so long? How do you make your body go through all of it? How mentality do you have focus when this kind of thing happens. How do you deal with cameras coming through your home? All that kind of stuff. We keep perspective because we realize it’s in the Lord’s hands here. Then the opportunities come.

People, in your jobs, in anything we do, we are witnessing constantly. We are witnessing all the time. That’s not the issue. The question is, what kind of a witness are we? That’s the question. That’s the issue. We’re witnessing all the time. I’m witnessing when I’m driving my car on my own. The question is, when the person in front of me stalls, what kind of a witness am I? That’s the question. And so, yes, we do get the chance, the opportunity, to literally share our faith. But we also have to understand we’re there gifted, we’re there set to do a job. And we do that faithfully and diligently and leave the rest in the Lord’s hands. We’re witnessing to people constantly. We’ve got to remember who we’re doing it for to start with, who we’re really working for. Colossians 3:23-24 makes it very clear.

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

That’s why we feel great about doing the small details well when no one sees, when no one will ever notice. You’re not doing them for the kudos, for the compliments. You’re doing them for the Lord. Can you see how work now should be exciting, irrespective of what the economy does? Irrespective of what the DOW does? Irrespective of what your 401k does? When I’m there, I’m there to work, and I’m there to work for the Lord and then leave it in his hands. And leave it in his hands. He sees the desires of your heart.

You go into that room before you walk out onto that pool deck in the Olympics, and it’s scary, it’s daunting. And I can remember thinking, “Just get me through this. Your will be done. I’ve done the work, but your will be done. But it’d be great if this was your will. But your will be done.” You work in such a way that you earn the right to pray to God for what it is that you’d love to see. But then you leave it in his hands knowing that his will will be done, and you abide by it with whatever happens. He can handle those kinds of requests as long as you leave it with the understanding, “Hey, whatever he does bring your way, so be it.” This is today. And we move on. We move on.

When Jesse tells David to go and visit his brothers and gives some supplies, we read this in 1 Samuel 17,

“And Jesse said to David, his son, ‘Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp of your brothers. Also take these ten cheeses to the commander …’” [Cheese is very important to any army, apparently.] “‘Take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.’ Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jessie had commanded him.”

This is a tiny detail. This is a tiny detail. But we see his diligence. This is a young guy. If somebody gave me the opportunity to go and hang out with the older guys, to go to the front lines with the army, to give me a good reason to do that, I’m probably going to forget some details like stupid sheep. Dad’s got someone else who can look after them. They aren’t going to go far. But not David. He arose early in the morning and leaves the sheep with a keeper. This is a detail. This is diligence. This is excellence. This is not leaving anything to chance in his work. In verse 22 we see him arrive at the battlefield. The armies are lining up to fight. As soon as he arrives, he dials in with the keeper of the property. It would have been easy just to set it down. It would have been easy just to set it down, think, “I’ll come back to it. It’s going nowhere.” But he doesn’t. He diligently, responsibly takes care of the small task and leaves it with the appropriate person. Small details matter. Small details matter. They matter in our work. They matter how we respond — how we respond to colleagues, how we respond to clients, how we respond to our boss, how we respond to people who are answerable to us. They matter.

And you notice David’s humility. When he does come before Saul, he mentions his account of fighting lions, fighting bears. But he doesn’t mention the fact that, “By the way, Samuel kind of told me that I’m going to be ruler of this land. God’s on my side. So, just trust me. I’ve got it dialed in. Just let me get on with the task at hand. Thanks. God’s got my back here.” He doesn’t say that. Doesn’t bring that into the conversation. I would have been tempted to play that — it’s a trump card — I would have been tempted just to play that and say, “by the way,” just kind of a humble brag type of thing. But not David. There’s no self-promotion. Humility matters. In our workplace humility matters. Remember, before you even get a chance to verbally witness, you’re witnessing. You’re witnessing. He’s not puffed up. He’s not overconfident. He relies on routine. He relies on his routine. And this is one of the things that I love how Peter’s mentioned this over the last couple of messages about God providing us with the opportunity to respond and us meeting that opportunity with effort and application. God provides us with the opportunities and us, in partnership with him, prepare for them and respond to them diligently and faithfully. And we see it in 1 Samuel 17:40. We read this,

“Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in a shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.”

Five smooth stones. Why five smooth stones? What’s the spiritual significance of five? I’ve got no idea. It’s okay, relax. It’s not the point, is what I’m getting at here. But here is the point. It would have been easy to say, “God is on my side. I only need one. I have the Lord behind me. I remember Samuel anointing me. God will watch out for me. I’ll just take one.” Now, imagine the sermons that would have been preached. Just think about it. We would have had thousands of sermons preached about the faith, the trust of David. He was so confident in the Lord. He took just one smooth stone because he knew it would down Goliath. No, he’s going to come back to how he’s being trained. He’s been trained to get the job done. And if training to get the job done means grab five stones, I’ll grab five stones. The Lord is on my side. The Lord is with me. Let me do my part faithfully, diligently. I’ll grab five and do what I know to do as best I can and leave the result in the Lord’s hands. Does that make sense? It’s a little detail in the story and the account of David and Goliath. But it’s super important. It’s super important. Preparing well matters. Preparing well matters. He’s not going to cut corners. There’s no B-game. We should not have as believers, we do not ever bring a B-game to work. We do not do that. You never race thinking this is an easy race. I was criticized in New Zealand because I didn’t slow down. People didn’t understand. My job is not to beat anyone. My job is to win. Two different things. It is predicated upon excellence. There is no B-game for us at work. It doesn’t mean there won’t be days when we’re tired. Yes, we have them. It doesn’t mean there will be days where we haven’t got other things on our mind at that time with family and friends. We’ll have that, too. But we don’t settle and just accept that we’ll turn on a sub-par performance.

And finally, we’ve got to understand that when we do approach work enthusiastically, you’re going to be a rare commodity. You’re going to be an employer’s dream. You’re going to give a phenomenal witness for Jesus Christ. But you will encounter potentially some challenges, like Eliab for David. Eliab is David’s oldest brother, possibly a little ticked that when Samuel comes to anoint the king, it’s not Eliab. Usually it’s going to the oldest. Nope, we’re going to go to the youngest. God’s done that before. But Eliab, understandably, might have been a little frustrated. And so, when David comes up and Eliab sees them, it tells us in verse 28-29 of 1 Samuel 17,

“Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, ‘Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.’ And David said, ‘What have I done now? Was it not but a word?’”

Eliab doesn’t get it. And sometimes when we approach work with enthusiasm, with diligence, with focus, other people around us won’t get it. When there is more to complain about right now, than doing work diligently. It’s interesting because the insult, the derisive insult, that Eliab throws at David, “Who have you left those few sheep with?” is the very thing that David’s trained to save his brother’s life. The very point that Eliab tries to mock David is the very issue that David has been trained to take out this giant, defending sheep. Eliab doesn’t understand that. And sometimes in your job, sometimes in your career and your work, you’re going to encounter people that just don’t get it.

Saul doesn’t get it. We see Saul try and dress David as to how a soldier should look. Perfect example of pragmatism. This is how you should look. This is how a soldier looks. This is what success looks like. Not in God’s economy. Saul’s responding pragmatically. This is what a successful person should be like. And people, we get this thrown at us all the time. You turn on LinkedIn, you turn on Facebook, and you see, this is what success should look like. You should have a legit. You should have three beautifully looking kids and a wife that looks like she’s like a glamor model. That is what success is supposed to look like. That’s rubbish. It’s a myth. It’s just deceit. Don’t buy into that. God says for a man after my own heart, it might be the youngest kid taming sheep, bring him in. I’ll work with this kid. God sees them.

So, Eliab doesn’t understand. Saul doesn’t understand. And finally, Goliath doesn’t get it. Goliath again is judging him from a pragmatic perspective. He disdained David based upon his outward appearances. He says, “For he was but a youth.” You may be put in jobs that are just beyond your skill set. And we’ve been there. Many of us have been there, and it can be daunting. That’s okay. If God’s got you in that spot, he’s got you in that spot for a reason. Now, more than ever, you’re going to be depending on him. He may have put you with difficult work colleagues. It’s okay. You’re there for a reason. How are you going to navigate this? What do you need to learn from scripture as to how to do this diligently, wisely, carefully with work colleagues, recognizing you’re a witness before you even speak?

And finally, staying focused and not seeking fanfare matters. Don’t try and rush God’s response. 1 Peter 5:6 tells us to

“Humble ourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he will exalt us.”

I know we all have in our minds what the proper times are for God to exalt us. I have plenty of them each week, practically each day. But it’s okay because God knows when he’s going to do it. But stay focused. Don’t get caught up in the fanfare, in the congratulations when you get to that point.

Finishing off with two points. I want to be mindful of the fact that a number of people are looking for work. A number of people are out of work and we never saw this coming. I want to encourage you to keep going on your job search, and I want to encourage you to see your job search as your job. Back at the previous church I was pastoring in California, a guy by the name of Nick Ross (really cool guy) was a bank executive, tenured for a long time, laid off. And I’ll never forget after I preached a message similar to this, and Nick came up to me afterwards and he said, “It’s interesting.” He said, “When I was on my job search, I treated it like my job.” He said, “I was up at 7:30 in the morning. I was at my office at eight o’clock when I was working for the bank. I was up at 7:30 in the morning to a bedroom that I converted into an office when I was at home. It became my job.” And so, for those of you who are looking for work, treat this job search as your job. Treat it as your job.

And finally, in David’s life, don’t cut corners. Don’t cut corners. We go on to see in 2 Samuel 11 David is now leading Israel. He’s been king for a little while. And we read in verse 1,

“In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.”

There’s complacency that came. There’s maybe a little bit of arrogance, maybe a little bit of bravado. I’ve got it from here. My training wheels are off now, and it looks like I’m doing fine. Thanks, I’ll take it from here, God. And it brings David down and brings heartache to this man and his family like you wouldn’t believe. Resisting complacency matters. Don’t get complacent, lazy, apathetic, sloppy, cutting corners, resting on reputation. Don’t do that. Excellence matters. Resist complacency. So, we are working for the Lord. And we work until we see him again, until we go to him or he comes to us. And some days we’re going to wish it was this Thursday, he would come to us and get us. Some of us are tired. I get it. But we wake up in the morning and we go to work for him.

In your handouts, which you can download from our website because you don’t have them here with you, on the back of the handout there is each day of the week, each day of next week — Monday to Sunday. And there’s a scripture verse. And I would like you to pray each morning for what your day is going to look like, for what you want it to look like. Ask the Lord for what you want him to do through you in that day. Commit it to him. And then when you come back that evening, when you maybe leave your office and go six steps into the dining room, write down what happened, just one or two sentences. Write it down and record it. But account for each day. Account for each workday you go through this week. Commit it to the Lord. Pray for what you want. Ask for what you want. Leave it on his hands. Leave it in his hands, don’t try and twist his arm. And write down what happened at the end of each day.

I’ll pray for us before Alan comes. Father, thank you for work. Lord, thank you for the blessing of work, for equipping us, for giving us talents and abilities and skills and desires. And Lord, we spend 40/50/60 hours a week in those careers, in those jobs. Lord, we were not meant to spend them thinking that you’re not interested in them. You are. And we thank you for that. Lord, we need you highly interested in our work, even some days where we may be fatigued, even some days where we may feel tempted to be complacent. Father, you’ve designed us for work. And until we see you again, Lord, I pray that we will be diligent workers and therefore faithful witnesses to you. It’s in your name we pray, amen.