MONDAY
MANNA
May
23, 2011
Thirteen years at service to the world’s business
community
By: Jim Lange
If there is
one truism in life – and especially the business and professional world – it is
that “stuff happens,” things transpire for no apparent reason, things you cannot
explain.
· An important sale you were
expecting to close after extraordinary effort suddenly falls
through.
· You lose a major client,
without warning or understandable cause.
· You do not receive the
promotion you had been expecting to get – or you do get the promotion,
but it fails to turn out as you had hoped or
anticipated.
· A key staff person
suddenly resigns and goes to a competitor, after you had invested much time and
money in training that individual.
When things
like this take place, we often wonder, “What did I do to deserve this?” or even,
“Why did God have to do this to me?” Sometimes we will never gain a satisfactory
explanation. Other times, however, we do receive an answer to our “why”
question. The following story provides a wonderful
illustration:
A daughter
was telling her mother about how everything in her life seemed to be going
wrong, that she was failing her math class, her boyfriend had broken up with
her, and her best friend was moving away. Her entire world seemed to be crashing
down.
As the
daughter was expressing her tale of woe, her mother was baking a cake. Pausing
from her activity, she interrupted her daughter to ask if she would like a
snack. The daughter responded, “Absolutely Mom, you know how much I love your
cake!”
“All right,
here, have some cooking oil,” her mother said, reaching the bottle of oil toward
her daughter. “Yuck!” said the daughter.
“How would
you like a couple raw eggs?” the mother asked, holding them out toward her. “No,
Mom – that would be terrible!”
“Would you
like to eat some flour then?” the mother inquired. “Or maybe baking
soda?”
“Mother, why
are you asking me that? All of those would be awful to eat!”
At that
point the mother replied: “Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But
when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious
cake. And if you forget to include even one ingredient, the result will not be
very good.
“God works
the same way,” the mother continued. “Many times we wonder why He would let us
go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these
things all together, in His perfect, all-knowing order, they always bring about
an outcome for our good! We just have to trust Him – and eventually they all
will combine to make something wonderful!”
This is why the Bible can
give us this promise: “And we know that in all things God
works for the good of those who love him, those
that have been called
according to his purpose”
(Romans
8:28).
Until next week!
© 2011 by Jim
Lange. Jim
is a chapter president with Truth@Work (www.christianroundtablegroups.com), a
ministry to people in the workplace. He writes a regular online blog, www.5feet20.com, and is the author of a
book, Bleedership: Biblical First-Aid for
Leaders. He
and his family live near Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A.
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Reflection/Discussion Questions
1. Do you ever
find yourself perplexed by unexpected setbacks, when things do not happen as you
had hoped or anticipated they would? At such times, how do you typically
respond?
2. When such
things come about, do you ask questions such as Jim Lange suggests – “What did I
do to deserve this?” or, “Why did God let this happen?” Explain your
answer.
3. What is your
reaction to the illustration about baking a cake – that by themselves, the
separate ingredients are not very appetizing, but together they have a very
tasty, satisfying result? Does this analogy relate to situations you have
experienced in the workplace?
4. The Bible
passage, Romans 8:28, is presented that states, “in all things God works for the
good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.” What is
your reaction to this? Do you believe it can be applied to today’s workplace in
a practical way? Why or why not?
NOTE: If you
have a Bible, consider these other passages that relate to this
topic:
Joshua
1:6-9; Isaiah 26:3, 40:31, 41:10, 55:8-11; Jeremiah 29:11; Philippians
4:19
