What to Do Next: Biblical Wisdom for Your CareerSample

Have you ever felt forgotten?

One time, during a doctor’s visit, they forgot about me. They led me to a room, shut the door, and never came back. I’m currently writing this from there.

Doesn’t life feel like that sometimes? Like you’ve been ushered into a waiting room and simply forgotten, stuck in a job that’s exhausting or toiling away in a role that’s not right. Ever been there? Are you there now?

On the journey to what’s next, you may find yourself in the waiting room.

Waiting is hard and dangerous. It’s hard because we feel as though our life has been put on hold. No one likes being put on hold. It’s the place of bad music and wasted time. It’s dangerous because of what we decide to do (or not do) in the meantime.

So how do we wait well? By adopting the following mindset: I haven’t been forgotten. I’m being prepared. There are things I don’t know. There are reasons for waiting that I can’t see right now. “There is a time for everything…”

Believing these statements will help you see the waiting room as a gift, not a curse. I’ll grant you that this isn’t easy. I suspect today’s passage from Ecclesiastes is one of the most quoted Old Testament passages for a reason. Waiting on God’s timing is hard.

Fortunately, you don’t have to wait passively. You can wait actively.

To wait actively, pay attention to three things: (1) calling, (2) gifting, and (3) timing.

A calling is when you realize that this is the thing you were created for. Gifting is the skills, talents, passions, and experience that make you the right person for the work. And timing is whether or not now is the moment to move.

Calling asks, “Shouldn’t someone do something about that?”
Gifting asks, “Could that someone be me?”
Timing asks, “If not now, when?”

The good news is when all three aspects align, you’ll discover what’s next. The bad news is you don’t have complete control over it. Today’s verse from Proverbs is pretty blunt about that: “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

In the meantime, you can cooperate in the process by looking for alignment between calling, gifting, and timing. When you don’t know what to do, that’s what to pay attention to.