Listening and Waiting
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)
A comment on one of my recent posts got me thinking and praying and I want to do my best to answer the questions that were posed to me.
The comment was, “If we are searching for God’s will in our business life, how can we know and how can we be sure? We might be chasing the wrong opportunity? If we keep on and on and we never see success, does that mean that it is not the right path?”
Those are great questions and ones I’ve also asked in the past. Below are the answers I feel God has given me.
As far as knowing God’s will for our business life and being sure we’re on the right path, I think there’s only one way to know for certain. Like any other part of our life for which we are seeking to know God’s will, we need to be in constant prayer about God’s will for our businesses. We also need to remember that prayer is a form of two way communication, so if we’re going to talk to God and discover His will for our businesses, we must also spend time listening for His answer.
The biblical passage I’ve memorized to remind me to speak as well as listen to God for the answers I need is found in Jeremiah 29:11-13 which says, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.“
I truly believe that if we are walking a close walk with the Lord and seeking with all our hearts to know His will for our businesses (or any other part of our lives), we’ll hear Him unmistakably speak the answers to us. I also believe we can hear His answers in the circumstances surrounding our daily business life and in the still, small whisper we hear in our hearts when we’re making important business decisions.
In answer to the second part of the question, I don’t believe that not getting to see the successes of our business efforts means we’re on the wrong path. God knows us better than we know ourselves and He has his reasons for not revealing certain successes to us. In my case, He knows that if I saw too many successes in too short a time, the human part of me might be tempted to say, “Look what I did!” instead of giving Him all the glory for each and every success in my business.
If you’re not seeing success on the path you’re currently on with your business, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re on the wrong path. Again, the only way to know for sure whether you’re heading in the direction God’s calling you is to pray without ceasing, listen for his answer, and wait until He tells you to move.
I hope I’ve helped answer your questions.
