Routed in Prayer: A Devotional for Those Starting New JobsSample

Day 14: Onwards!

Express Route 

Looking back on the last two weeks and looking forward into the future of your working life, you might ask, ‘what is God’s big plan for me?’ A successful (or even a mediocre) career? No, it’s bigger than that. God’s plan for us is, quite simply, to give us Himself. As you consider the months and years ahead, make yourself aware once again of the promises and the presence of God – His goodness and mercy following, surrounding, and protecting you. 

Scenic Route

Read: Psalm 23 

Reflect: Two full weeks completed at your new job, and you’re hopefully beginning to feel a little more settled into your new routine. Of course, things will still occasionally catch you by surprise, and it’ll be a little while yet until you really feel at home. But be kind to yourself – it’s only been two weeks!

With the first fortnight behind us, how can we make sure we take all that we’ve learnt over this time with us into the rest of our working lives? 

We end this prayer journey where we began, in Psalm 23. This whole psalm – as we saw a fortnight ago – talks about how God is intensely interested in the whole of life. Quiet waters, valleys, good paths, death, enemies, dinner time… He will shepherd us through it all. And these final verses of Psalm 23 are a source of great comfort to many people in all kinds of life situations: ‘surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.’ 

Moving forward, things might not always feel easy or look clear. You – as we all do – will have good days and significantly-less-good days. Promotions, demotions, maternity/paternity leave, redundancies and successes are all likely to feature in one way or another: some of them will surprise and delight you, others will knock you for six. 

So, what exactly is God’s ‘plan for your life’ in the midst of all that? It’s not a thing, it’s not a career, it’s not 2.4 children and a dog and a nice house in the suburbs. It’s Himself. Everything else flows out of that. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, surely His very self, His goodness and His mercy will follow you, guide you, protect you, and love you all the days of your life.

Pray: Spend some time thanking God for these past few weeks – pray for the colleagues and clients and customers you know by name. Commit the tasks you’ve completed and the tasks you’ve yet to complete back into God’s hands. And now sit in His presence, making yourself aware of His goodness and mercy surrounding and upholding you this day and in all the days to come.

If you want to keep going, the material and videos in the full Routed resource can take you deeper into the topics this devotional journey has touched on. You can use it on your own or grab some friends and work through it together.