WISDOM FOR GOD-HONOURING WORK

“And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and ESTABLISH the WORK of OUR HANDS…” – Psalm 90:17a

The Bible presents God’s WISDOM for GOD-HONOURING WORK: “And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, ESTABLISH the WORK of OUR HANDS” (Psa.90:17). The phrase, “the work of our hands” refers to our business, career, endeavour, employment, profession, or vocation. An established work is a prosperous career, a flourishing endeavour, a productive profession, a successful vocation – a God-honouring work life. This is a product, not only of personal diligence, but also of Divine Approval and Favour: “And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands” (v.17, New Living Translation).

Our meditation verse revolves around two prayer points. First, is the understanding of the need for God’s Favour to rest on a person’s life! Lives and ministries marked by favour stand out in their deep and far-reaching Impact (1Sam.2:26; Lk.2:52). The second prayer point concerns the works of our hands: It is God who makes us successful. There are situations in which we laboured at something intensely only to see it bear little or no fruit, or even to have it cost us in the end rather than to bring blessing. It is the Lord who establishes and causes to flourish. Sometimes we take for granted the assumption that we will be blessed and forget our responsibility to labour with God through asking for His power and wisdom to establish our works. Every venture that we undertake for the Lord should be bathed in prayer not clothed in presumption!

Moses, in this Psalm, implored the Lord to place His favour upon him and the Israelites, asking Jehovah to prosper all that they did. On another occasion, he prophesied: “The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow” (Deut.28:12). Anything we do without the Lord's help and blessing amounts to nothing: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Psa.127:1). When Nehemiah planned to rebuild Jerusalem's walls, he prayed for success (Neh. 1:4, 11).

Before the apostles bore witness to Jesus in Jerusalem they grouped together and prayed (Acts 1:12–14). Before assigning Paul and Barnabas to serve as missionaries, the Antioch believers fasted and prayed (Acts 13:2–3). Believers must pray for the Lord's blessing on any assigned work. We can do more than pray, but we cannot do anything eternally significant until we pray. Whether we are scouting for a new job, working hard at a current career, battling burnout at work, or handling co-worker conflicts, we can bring it before the Lord in prayer. He has good plans to prosper and not harm us (Jer.29:11). Whatever we do should be “heartily, as to the Lord and not for men” (Col.3:23)." Ours should be a God-honouring work life!

God invites us to partner with Him in prayer and obedience. I came across this prayer for a God-honouring work life:

“Father, I come before you thankful that you have made work a part of life and given me the opportunity to glorify you in my work…Thank you for the good days and the difficult ones, and for the gifts you have given me to help this world be a better place through my work. Establish the work of my hands by helping me to be productive, patient, focused, and insightful. Keep me from distractions that hinder rather than help my work. Let Your Spirit lead and help me to be joyful and creative at work – constantly reminding me that you’re the reason I have breath in my lungs. Teach me to align my work, family, church life, and rest in a way that would maximize Your glory and allow me to bear the most fruit for Your Kingdom.”