Don’t put God in a box. Why? Because He’s God. That means His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. But as human beings, can we put Him in a box? Yes. This could be because of:
- Lack of faith – Matthew 13:58: “And He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief”
- Sin – Hosea 5:15: “I will go back to my place, until the people admit they are guilty, until they come looking for me. Yes, in their trouble they will try very hard to find me”
- Leaning on our own understanding or operating by what makes sense to us – 1) Exodus 13:17: “God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt”; 2) Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death”
- How our brains work, drawing parallels, assuming that because God moved a particular way in the past means that He’ll move that way again in future – God appeared to both Moses and Elijah at Mt. Sinai; to Moses and the Israelites, His voice was loud as thunder, but to Elijah, it was a still small voice – same venue, same God, different ways
My testimony builds on this last point. In this post, I told you the testimony of how God came through for me with my MBA admission many years ago now. In that experience, one thing I learnt was persistence in knocking, which I believed played a role in helping to secure that admission. Fast forward a couple of years and I was faced with a situation that forced me to look for a new job. There are a couple of testimonies to tell about how God has been leading me since the MBA but I want to focus specifically on what’s related to the title of this post.
So, I suddenly find myself needing to look for a new job because of geopolitical risks that affected my employer. To be clear, I was still employed, which itself is a testimony, as over 90% of my team was laid off but God granted me such favor in the sight of my employers that I was one of the only two people retained on the team. Hallelujah! As the news of the development spread about what had happened at the firm, a few companies reached out to have conversations – another blessing! Additionally, I reached out to a company that I was particularly keen on exploring an opportunity with. Ultimately, this job search process lasted a whole year, with over 50 meetings and discussions but I want to focus on two specific opportunities. Let’s call one Option A (the company I reached out to), and Option B (the company that reached out to me).