Biblical Leadership: God’s Will for Your LeadershipSample

1. The Career Planning Myth

In this series, we are going to apply the teachings of the Bible to help see what God’s plan is for your leadership and career activity.

Let’s start the readings by reflecting on these questions to get the juices flowing…

• are you happy or frustrated with your work?
• is there an opportunity for growth in your work?
• where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?
• do you think God has a calling in your work?

In the readings ahead, we’re going to go through each of these questions and more so that your leadership and career plans may become more clear and in line with God’s will.

Firstly, the idea that you are able to chart the course of your leadership career the way you want is a myth. 

Sometimes, it looks like others may have it all together and with a start-to-finish leadership plan but once the stories and legends are cleared away, we see that this is not the norm.

Just like the “heroes” in the Bible: Joseph, Moses, David, Mary, Paul, and others,  none of them had a plan to serve God in a way that remotely resembled what actually happened.

Joseph was the favored son on the way to following in his father’s footsteps when his brothers sold him into slavery, and only after spending years in a foreign jail did he come out to work as second-in-command alongside the ruler of the land. (Genesis 37,39-41)

Moses had run away from his life of luxury in Egypt, thinking he would be a shepherd the rest of his days in the land of Midian until God called him back to Egypt to rescue the Israelites. (Exodus 2:11-22, 3:1-22)

David had no particular career plan but was plucked from his position as a shepherd boy to be anointed as the next king of Israel while he was still a teenager. (1 Samuel 16:1-13)

Mary was engaged with very traditional plans for a wedding and future when she found out that she was already pregnant and called to be the holy mother of Jesus Christ himself. (Matthew 1:18-25)

Saul was working his way up the leadership ladder within the Jewish Pharisee organization when God called him to faith as the Apostle Paul and to help build the very church he was persecuting. (Acts 9:1-22)

And so it is today also.

We often think we know God’s plan for our lives until we realize that we don’t.

We’re all just sailors in the sea of life.

Sailors have no control of the wind or the sea. They may have a destination in mind – just like you might be thinking of a leadership goal or ideal career – until the wind changes or the sea gets rough. 

When that happens, sailors adjust their sails and plot a new direction, and perhaps even a new destination to remain safe and to adapt to what’s going on around them. 

That’s how it is with your planned leadership career also.

You might think that God has specially gifted you with leadership skills for a certain position or organization, but as the situation changes or, you could say, as God reveals his hand then it could quite likely be time to change course and set a new direction.

Just like Joseph or David. Or Moses, Mary, or Paul. 

Like every other leader who has gone before you.

Reflection / Application

1. Take a minute to write down the key leadership and career skills that you think God has given you.
2. Now write down a 1-2 sentence summary of what you think the next 5-10 years of your leadership career may look like.
3. Are you ready to throw out the summary you just wrote? Re-read some of the stories of Joseph and others in the Bible then reflect on your own ability to hear and follow God’s plan for your working life.