Pressure

The top supervisor position in a Brigade I will be commanding opens at the end of the month.  A team of four of us conducted interviews with three job applicants. One of the individuals on the hiring team, Jack,* clearly favored one of the applicants and pressured the rest of us to hire her.  His choice did the best job fielding questions and technically seemed the most competent for the job.  By the end of the interviews the team leaned towards hiring her.  Inwardly I did not feel comfortable selecting her.  It felt like we were rushing to make a hire—squeezed by time and loyalty to select a woman who had served in our organization a long time.  I silently asked God for His help that we would do the right thing.   Instead of immediately offering her the position I gained approval from the other three leaders to conduct a more thorough background check.  

Meditation
Joshua 9:14,15--Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but did not seek the Lord’s counsel. So Joshua established peace with them and made a treaty to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.
 
The Gibeonites heard the stories of how God delivered the Israelites from Egypt and destroyed their enemies as they journeyed to Canaan.  Cleverly they concocted a ruse to convince Joshua and the Israelite leaders that they were a distant community that traveled far to make a treaty of peace with Israel.  The Jews fell for the deception and made a peace treaty with them.  What they did not do was ask God for His direction or take the time to research the claims of the Gibeonites.  Perhaps they felt pressured to make an immediate decision so as not to embarrass a delegation by making them wait.  Maybe they felt the facts were obvious enough not to consult God. Whatever their reasoning, three days later they discovered they were deceived by an idolatrous people marked by God for destruction.   Joshua and his leaders lost credibility in the eyes of their followers and in the process learned a valuable lesson—don’t make important decisions without consulting God!  

Most of us live with pressure routinely—whether it is the demands of decision-making, the weight of illness or anxiety caused by adversity—how we manage it determines how we grow spiritually.   The best way to handle difficulty is to run to God not to run in our own strength. Rely on His help through prayer, examining His Word and consulting with those who abide with Him, and trust Him for the results.   

Proverbs 19:2 says, “Even zeal is not good without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily sins.”    Never let the weight of decision-making preclude the wait of hearing God’s voice. By the way, a background check revealed serious problems with the applicant Jack wanted us to hire.  God spared me from making a hasty decision under pressure.  Praise His name!
 
Inspiration
It is generally much less difficult for us to commit the keeping of our future to the Lord than it is to commit our present.  We know we are helpless as regards the future, but we feel as if the present was in our own hands, and must be carried on our own shoulders; and most of us have an un-confessed idea that it is a great deal to ask the Lord to carry ourselves, and that we cannot think of asking him to carry our burdens too.—Hannah Whitall Smith in The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life
*Not his real name
 
©2005 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)