Routed in Prayer: A Devotional for Those Starting New JobsSample

Day 11: Doing your best

Express Route

Job descriptions can tell us in theory what our day-to-day work will look like, but there’s nothing quite like getting down to business to really discover what’s expected of you. As you seek to do the best you can with what you’ve got, Psalm 127 reminds us that we labour in vain if we do not invite God into our work – and leave it with Him at the end of the day as we go home to rest.

Scenic Route

Read: Psalm 127 

Reflect: What’s your job looking like? Now that you’re nearly two weeks in, it’s likely you’ll have realised that your daily work encompasses significantly more than the bullet points on your initial job description.  

Making good work – doing the best work you can in the knowledge that everything you do is to and for the glory of God – is a key part of what it means to be a Christian in the workplace. Psalm 127 reminds us of God’s sovereignty over every circumstance, His involvement in our human plans and efforts. We can plan and build and watch and stand guard, but if we forget that God is involved, we risk making our work into an idol that will never truly satisfy. This psalm gives rest to the control freak and peace to the anxious worrier as it states that even the best human carefulness cannot guarantee results: it’s God who makes the difference. 

If God’s involvement is the crucial ingredient in every one of our activities, then the pressure’s off us. We can allow ourselves to sleep and relax because God is still at work even when we are not. Do not be overwhelmed, this psalm says, God gives sleep. God loves us, so He gives us rest whilst taking care of those things we find so hard to leave behind. 

How are you giving your work over to God, whilst still making sure you’re giving it your best shot? Today, seek to make good work. Seek to cast the weight of it onto God throughout the day, acknowledging that our best laid plans and most meticulous work amount to nothing if He is not present in them.

Pray: If you have access to it, go through your job description. If not, then your to-do list or calendar works too. Pray through each point, ask God to equip you to do your best, and then ask Him to take the weight of succeeding from you. Praise Him that He is good and kind and faithful, and He is with you in your work and your rest.