When You Are Worried About Work

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This Week's Devotion Was Inspired By:

Psalm 37:23-24

^{The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
when he delights in his way;
though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lord upholds his hand.}

FROM HEAD KNOWLEDGE TO HEART KNOWLEDGE:

1. Evaluate in prayer: How do you feel about the statement, "the results are up to God"? Is it hard for you to accept, or are you okay with surrendering the results?

2. Apply to now & the future: Pray and thank God that He loves you so much and cares so much for you. Think about the fact that the results are not actually your responsibility and the joy that can bring to your daily work. Ask God for reminders of this as you are working.

KEY POINT: We are called to do our best, but the results are in God's control, not ours, so we don't need to stress about how things will turn out.

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Transcript

I often feel worried about how something’s going to turn out. Particularly with Teach for the Heart and some of the things we try to do, I wonder:

Is this going to work?
What happens if it doesn’t?
What if this doesn’t work out?

It can really take a toll. I’m guessing many of you can relate to that, both in teaching and in life.

Why can’t I get this student to participate?
Is this strategy going to work?
What if I get a bad evaluation?

These worries can weigh on us. We take on this burden, and we get stressed and worried. And I don’t believe that’s what God has for us, because He says, “Do not worry about anything.”

Here’s what I’m learning lately: I’m learning that while I am called to do my best, the results actually aren’t up to me. The results are in God’s hands. And they may work. They may work out exactly how I want them to. What I’m hoping will happen might happen. But you know what? It might not.

Just because God’s called me to something and I’m doing my best doesn’t mean it’s going to work out the way I want. He might have failure in my future. He might have things not working out in my future. And He knows why that’s what’s best in that moment. And I can trust Him with that.

When I’m remembering this truth, it’s really revolutionary because it allows me to take the burden off my mind of:

What’s going to happen?
Is this going to work?
What if it doesn’t work?

And I can work more joyfully. Just recognizing God has called me to do my best. He’s called me to work with Him and for Him. I can do that, and I can be creative, and I can problem solve, but the results are ultimately in His hands.

There’s a verse that talks about how God is with us through ups and downs and how He’ll guide us and help us when things are great and when things aren’t. It’s Psalm 37:23–24:

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord when he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”

I love how this talks about God being with us. And if we fall, if things don’t go well, He holds us up. We’re not cast down. He’s with us through all the ups and downs.

So, I want to encourage you to spend just a few moments thinking about the fact that the results actually aren’t your responsibility. Your responsibility is to love and trust God and to work for Him and with Him to the best of your ability.

Think about how different it feels when you actually let go of the results and let God take care of those. I hope you’ll think about this and that it’ll be an encouragement to your heart this week.

FROM HEAD KNOWLEDGE TO HEART KNOWLEDGE:

1. Evaluate in prayer: How do you feel about the statement, "the results are up to God"? Is it hard for you to accept, or are you okay with surrendering the results?