By Caoyang
“Trust in Jehovah with all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6).
——Epigraph
I am a welder. One day a colleague told me that our company was about to close down because some stockholders took away all the money and ran away, and that he had already found another job. Hearing this, I became anxious and thought: “If the company really closes, then won’t I lose my job? I might as well quit and look for another job that is suitable for me. I am a skilled welder, so it won’t be a problem for me to get a job.” I felt quite pleased with myself as I thought about this.
The next morning after I quitted, when I was about to go out for job search, my uncle reminded me, saying: “You should pray and rely on God rather than rely on yourself to find a job. Let God lead and guide you.” Hearing this, I thought arrogantly: “There is no need to bother God with such a small thing. Besides, I am young and have both experience and skills—isn’t this enough to get me a job? So I might as well look for a job on my own.” I didn’t really take my uncle’s words to heart and even thought his worries and concerns were totally unnecessary.
Brimming with confidence, I began my job search. I rode my motorcycle traveling around the streets, and whenever I came across a recruitment ad, I would call the number on it to make inquiries. But they either said they didn’t have any vacancy, or asked me to wait for news. Or else the work hours were too long, which would interfere with my attending gatherings and performing duties. And so, after more than half a day of search, I didn’t get anything suitable for me and returned home feeling dispirited. Later, I continued searching for more than half a month, yet still got nothing.
Seeing that I didn’t get a job after searching for such a long time, my wife advised me, saying, “You should pray and rely on God in job hunting. We can’t achieve anything on our own. Besides, why do you have to find a job as a welder? Maybe you should consider finding something in another line and do it while searching for a welding job. Anyway, you need to pray and rely on God and see how He will lead you.” Unhappily, I replied, “I’m only interested in welding. I have the skills, so I don’t need to learn other things, and it will be easy for me to settle in.” And so, I continued to search for work on my own, but still ended up gaining nothing. Unwilling to submit, I thought: Since I couldn’t find a job by myself, I might as well turn to my friends for help. I just don’t believe I can’t get a job. Later according to my requirements and practical situation, my friends got me several jobs, but some were very tiring and dirty, and some were no longer open when I went to attend the interviews, so in the end I still didn’t get a job I wanted. As my last shred of hope was dashed, I felt very lost and confused, and thought: “Given my work experience and skills, how come I couldn’t find a suitable job? I’ve traveled many roads and made a lot of phone calls, so why am I always running up against walls?” I felt really depressed.
Seeing that I was in a bad state, my uncle said to me caringly, “We are believers in God, and the situations we encounter every day are all presided and arranged by God, in which there are lessons we should learn. Recently, you’ve been going out to look for a job, but didn’t get anything in the end. So you should come before God to seek His will and reflect on why you always failed. In fact, whether when we are looking for a job or doing other things, God hopes that we can come before Him and let Him guide us rather than act by our own will and imaginings. Only by practicing this way can we be counted as people who have God in our heart.” After that, he read me several passages of God’s words and I saw the following: “Blind men! Why don’t you come to My presence more and seek? Why are you just acting blindly? You must see clearly! It is certainly not a person who is working now, but rather it is the Ruler of all, the one true God—the Almighty!” “Oh, the corrupt ones! You must come to rely on Me today; if you do not, today I shall tell you that you will never achieve anything! All shall be in vain and your undertakings shall be worthless!”
God’s words made me suddenly see the light. It turned out that if we do not rely on God’s leadership but merely rely on ourselves to do everything, then all our efforts will simply be in vain. I thought of how, in my job search, I had never prayed to or relied on God but thought that with my skills, I could find a job on my own and didn’t need to rely on God. I was really so arrogant and self-right. Besides, I had always held this absurd view that “With effort you can achieve anything,” thinking that I believed in God, but I had to deal with the real problems in life by myself. So when it came to my job search, I thought I needed to practically attend interviews and make phone calls, and that relying on God was a bit vague. Therefore, I’d always relied on myself to look for a job, and even though my family reminded me to lean on God after I came up against walls time and again, I still remained arrogant and stubborn and didn’t accept their advice. I thought if I couldn’t find a job by myself, I could rely on my friends, but in the end I still gained nothing. All this allowed me to see that although I believed in God and read His words, I actually had no place for God in my heart. Whenever something happened to me, I would put God aside and never proactively rely on Him or look to Him. I saw that my faith in God was so very small!
Later, I came across these words from God: “It’s very simple now: Look upon Me with your heart and your spirit will immediately become strong, you will have a path to practice and I will guide your every step. My word shall be revealed to you at all times and in all places. No matter where or when, or how adverse the environment is, I will show you clearly and My heart shall be revealed to you if you look to Me with your heart; this way you will run down the road ahead and never lose your way.” God’s words overflowed with authority and shook my heart, from which I came to understand that all things and all beings are in the hands of God, and that no matter what situations or difficulties we encounter, as long as we rely on and look to God with our hearts, He will lead and help us. This is because God is faithful and He will accomplish whatever He says. I couldn’t help but remember Joshua as recorded in the Bible, who, when faced with the fortified city Jericho, looked to and relied on God through faith and finally won the battle and conquered Jericho. Also there was King David, who, by relying on Jehovah God, used a slingshot to kill the giant Goliath with a stone in his teens. From these facts I saw that there is nothing God cannot do, and that whatever problems or difficulties I have, as long as I truly lean on God, He will certainly guide and help me. At this thought, I grew some faith in God and then said a prayer of obedience to God. I wished to pray and rely on God in job hunting, and no longer do it on my own. Regardless of whether I was able to find a job or not, I would obey God’s orchestrations and arrangements.
The next morning, before I went out for job search, I again made a prayer to God to entrust the people, events and things I might encounter into His hands and express my willingness to rely on Him to experience them. Around eight or nine o’clock, I rode my motorcycle to a career fair, only to see that it was crowded with people who were coming to look for a job, and there were some stands set up by the recruiters. Occasionally, I heard the people around me talking with each other, some said the work hours were too long despite the high salaries, and some complained that the wages were too low. I also walked around making inquiries, but didn’t find anything suitable for me. Around midday, people started to disperse but I still didn’t get a job. Just as I became somewhat disheartened, it occurred to me that all things and all events are under God’s rule and arrangements, and that what job I would have was even more determined by God. I can’t lose my faith, I thought. Although I haven’t found a job yet, I should submit first and continue to lean on God and seek His guidance. I believe that everything has a time appointed by God, and that God will prepare it all. As I thought about this, my state improved a great deal, and then I got on my motorcycle and was ready to head home. But before I reached the gate of the venue, I suddenly caught sight of a recruitment ad. As I approached, I saw it say that they wanted welders. Besides, this ad was put by a large company. I was thrilled—isn’t this what I’ve been looking for? So I hurried over and gave the recruiters some account of my personal details and work experience and they then gave me a brief introduction about the work. After that, I was directly taken to the company for an interview, where the manager asked me some questions about welding and I answered all of them correctly. He then took out a drawing and asked if I could read it. I was dumbfounded and thought: “The questions he asked before happened to be what I know, but reading or making a drawing is totally beyond me because I’ve never learned this. When I made the drawings in the past, I always did it according to my imaginings. Could it be that this chance will go up in smoke?” Tamping down my nervousness, I took the drawing and pretended to read it carefully while in my heart I felt an intense battle raging: Should I lie and say I know how to read it? But what if he asks me about some details and I can’t answer? Moreover, lying is not after God’s heart. Since I don’t know how to read it, I should just speak the truth. Although I really like this job and it is very suitable for me—the work times won’t interfere with my attending gatherings and performing duties, and the company is near my home, it’s not necessarily what God has arranged for me. I believe that if this job comes from God’s arrangements, then I will pass the interview no matter what, but if it doesn’t, even if I may get this job by deceptive methods, I won’t be able to keep it for very long. As I thought of this, my heart felt relieved. So I told the manager truthfully that I didn’t know how to read drawings and that neither had I learned it. Hearing this, the manager asked me to go home and wait for a response. Such a result made me feel a little disappointed. As I thought of the many times I had been told to wait for news but didn’t get hired in the end, I couldn’t help but worry that I wouldn’t get this job either. But then I thought: Everything is in God’s hands. I’ve done what I should do. All I need to do now is leave the rest to God’s hands, let Him arrange it and obey His will. This thought filled my heart with peace and release.
After I returned home, I said an obedient prayer to God, after which I came across these words of God: “All things under God’s arrangements and sovereignty obey natural laws, and if you resolve to let God arrange and dictate everything for you, you should learn to wait, you should learn to seek, you should learn to submit. This is the attitude that every person who wants to submit to God’s authority must take, the basic quality that every person who wants to accept God’s sovereignty and arrangements must possess. To hold such an attitude, to possess such a quality, you must work harder; and only thus can you enter into the true reality.” From the word of God I came to understand that God holds sovereignty over everything and administers all things, and that since I had prayed to God and left the issue of work in His hands for Him to arrange, I should wait for God’s time with an obedient heart and seek to understand His will in the process. I didn’t know what would happen next—maybe that company would tell me that I wasn’t suitable for that job, maybe they would ask me to work there, or maybe there would be no news from them at all—all this was not decided by me; the only thing I could do was wait, pray to God and hand this matter over to Him, and accept the outcome with an obedient heart.
The next morning, I was woken by the pleasing sound of my cellphone. It was a call from that company and they told me I was hired. I became wide awake at this news—I passed the interview! Immediately, a wave of excitement surged up within me. After hanging up, I still couldn’t calm down and kept giving thanks to God. I truly saw God’s wondrous deeds and that all things are under God’s sovereignty and arrangement. The next day when I went to work in that company, the colleagues there all welcomed me enthusiastically and two technicians even offered to teach me how to read and make drawings and how to change welding wire. I knew all this was arranged by God’s hands and was His love for me.
After experiencing all this, I was full of emotions. I saw that when I stubbornly refused to lean on God and looked for work on my own, I came up against walls all the time, but when I put myself aside and truly relied on and looked to God, I experienced that nothing is impossible for God and found a job that was perfectly suitable for me. This was all God’s preparation. I witnessed God’s faithfulness and appreciated His mightiness in ruling over everything. Thanks be to God!