All God's Children Got Jobs

By Mary Hlawatsch

Does God have a special job for me? If you'd like to know the answer, whether you are presently employed or not, this book is for you. The Bible stories of God's people's career paths are full of surprises. They were all busy, but God pushed, pulled, or yanked them out of what they thought was their perfect life's work and gave them something bigger and better. God had a plan for them, and He has a career path for you. Reading this book about the Bible stories will help to build your faith and guide you to God's plan for your success. "'I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781640798601

Book preview

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Mary Hlawatsch

Illustrations by Albert R Harbour III

All

God’s Children

Got

Jobs

ISBN 978-1-64079-859-5 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64079-860-1 (digital)

Copyright © 2018 by Mary Hlawatsch

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

To Jesus, who loves me,

saved me, and provided me

with abilities and opportunities

to learn skills that took me

from one job to another.

The Lord Is My

Career Counselor . . .

I shall not fail.

He makes sure I find the path to success;

He leads me to work that’s perfect for me,

He restores my hope.

He guides me into prosperity

for my good and His Glory.

Yea, as I go to interviews and ask to be hired,

I will not fear rejection, for God has a plan;

His Love and His Power encourage me.

He prepares me in knowledge and skill,

and appoints my place of work;

My satisfaction is certain.

Surely, the joy of achievement will follow me,

wherever I go,

and the Lord will bless all that I do,

forever.

—an adaptation of Psalms 23

Getting Started

Living in a time of rapid, dramatic, and multiple changes in technology, we have more options for careers than any generation before us. The tools we use are very different and more diverse than those available even as recently as ten years ago. We are often told our circumstances are unique compared to all people who lived in the past. Typically, we are encouraged to look to the future for career guidance and tend to conclude history is irrelevant to our lives. This perspective ignores the fact that being human is not a new experience: people have always had to choose careers, go to school, get job training, cope with problems in finding and keeping a job, change careers, relocate to find work, and struggle to get promoted.

I searched the Bible on these issues, and I am convinced God had us in mind when He preserved the stories of His people. Even though they lived thousands of years ago, the business of business is one of the most fascinating and instructive aspects of the lives of biblical characters. That’s what this book is about.

In writing the profiles, I paid close attention to chronology and geography. However, Joshua was a military leader, but to make his story applicable to employment, he is portrayed as being in business and financial endeavors. In others, there are a few minor shifts in time and place, which seemed necessary to the flow but of little effect on the big picture. Additionally, to help people connect with the characters and show how relevant the Bible is to our situation, expressions, slang terms, and gadgets common in modern experience, are inserted here and there. They would probably be used by the characters if they were alive today.

Each story is followed by an analysis, suggesting what might be learned from the character study. Then a prayer is presented for personal application of the messages in the story. Scripture references are included at the end of each story and its analysis.

Reading them is essential to the learning experience provided by this book. There is no substitute for the real thing: God speaks to us most effectively when we read the Bible on our own.

This book is not the Bible rewritten; it’s a prayer. It expresses my hope that people will read God’s Word, receive His guidance in their careers, and enjoy His blessings.

1

Adam and Eve:

The Beginning of Mankind and the Labor Force

When God made the Earth suitable for life, He made a special creature to enjoy Him. God is love, and He wanted to share it all. He made people, starting with Adam and Eve, to have a special love relationship with Him. He provided all their needs, so they were free to explore the world, learn, grow, and enjoy. Adam and Eve were married by God Himself. They were totally fulfilled emotionally, intellectually, and physically. They thanked God for everything several times a day. Neither could imagine anything that would be called work; the word didn’t even exist. There was one catch: one tree that God made produced a unique fruit, and God told Adam it was an absolute no-no. When God told them about it, they said, ‘‘No problem," because all their needs and desires were met.

One day, while Adam was off romping around the countryside, Eve was approached by a beautiful serpent. In those days, animals could talk just like people, so she wasn’t surprised when the snake struck up a conversation. She didn’t know Satan, God’s archenemy, had entered the serpent. Satan told Eve God had lied about the special tree. He told her it was perfectly safe to eat the fruit. They wouldn’t die; they’d just become as smart as God. Eve bought into Satan’s lie and ate the fruit. When Adam came back, she talked him into eating it too.

Suddenly, they were different. They weren’t sure what it meant, but for starters, they were no longer comfortable about being naked. As they were trying to cover up what they had done, they heard God coming to see them. The visit went something like this:

God: Yo, Adam! Where are you?

Adam: We’re hiding in the bushes.

God: What’s happening?

Adam: Eve made me do it.

Eve: The devil made me do it.

God: We’ll skip the trial and go straight to the sentencing.

Suddenly, there was no more free lunch. God still loved them, and He would still help them, but they had to work for their food, clothes, shelter, cars, TVs, and Disneyland passes.

They had died spiritually; they had broken their perfect love relationship to God, the Source of Life. God promised to send a Savior who would die to take their punishment so they could be restored to an open relationship with Him. That was great, but meanwhile, they learned that having to wear clothes and work were not the only results of what they had done. It was much worse. One of their sons chose animal husbandry as a career, and the other chose vegetable farming. The sons got into an argument about whose was the noblest profession, and it got physical. One brother murdered the other. The rest is history.

People are still killing each other and people still have to work for a living. Of course, many tried to get out of working. Some invented slavery and forced other people to do their work. Others invented burglary and robbery and just took what they wanted.

Others invented begging because it seemed less offensive than stealing. Some very caring people invented disability and welfare benefits to help those who couldn’t work. This brought in a new breed of innovative crooks who made believe they couldn’t work to be able to steal from people who did. Fortunately, the majority took legitimate jobs and built businesses that provided work and income for themselves and others.

One of the first businesses was the legal system. Rulers wrote laws against abusing people and their property and created penalties for violators. This made it necessary to have police officers, judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys. All of them needed places to work, and there was a distinct need for places to confine the bad guys so they couldn’t hurt the good guys anymore. So the construction industry, which had been created to build houses, condos, and shopping centers started building courthouses and prisons.

A lot of people figured it was still okay to take others’ property, as long as they didn’t get caught, so the next companies to be set up produced fences, locks, and alarm systems. The justice system, prison construction, and antitheft-device manufacturing continue to be some of the busiest and most profitable industries. In the meantime, Adam and Eve didn’t have as much fun as when they had a perfect relationship to God, but they learned to work and actually enjoyed it. They believed God’s promise to undo the damage they had done, and that was the key to getting on with their lives. They knew God loved them, and when He said He would do something, it was as good as done.

Gen. 1–3, 4:1–8;

John 14:6–27, 16:23–24; 1

Cor. 15

What it all means

God says we all would have done what Adam and Eve did. Just as it didn’t do them any good to blame somebody else, there is no sense in our denying responsibility. We share the blame and the shame, but we are also under the promise of a Savior. Jesus paid our penalty. God raised Him from the dead. All we have to do is admit we screwed up, ask Jesus to forgive us, and invite Him into our lives. Then we become accepted by God and receive His love, care, and guidance.What we do for a living is so important to God that he had certain people write the history of many of His special people whose lives and careers set an example for us. Anyone who wants to please God can learn from the stories of the people in the Bible. He wants us to have meaningful work and will guide us, for our fulfillment and for blessings for those around us.

Since you are reading this, you want to find God’s will for your life and are ready to benefit from God’s Word about careers for His people. You can trust God to lead you into a job that is best suited to your needs and abilities. He will place you where you can do pleases Him, helps others and gives you satisfaction. Rom. 5; Ps. 128, 130; John 15:5–17

A prayer for getting started in the right direction

Jesus, forgive me for turning my back on God and believing Satan’s lies. Forgive me of all my sins. You said that You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and I believe You. I accept You into my heart, and I give You my life. Thank You for dying for me so I could become a child of God, the way He intended.

Thank You, God, for sending Jesus to take my punishment. Thank You for accepting me into Your family. Help me to learn from the history of Your people. I want to go where you want me to go and do what You want me to do. Please, fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Lead me to the work You have for me so I can please You help others and get all my needs met too.

Thank You, God. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Amen.

2

Noah: His Work

Kept the World Afloat

Noah lived in one of the best times in history, but it was also one of the worst. The soil was rich, and the fruits and vegetables contained the maximum recommended daily allowance of vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc. There was hardly any illness or disease, and people lived for hundreds of years. The downside was that nobody wanted to be bothered with God and His laws. They weren’t even speaking to Him, much less listening to Him. Prayer and Bible reading had been banned in the schools and had even been abandoned in the churches. Liberalism was rampant. It produced a society in which do your own thing was the only line spoken that even resembled a law. The signs of the times were free sex, unprovoked violence, auto thefts, daylight burglaries, all-night drug bashes, and ATM robberies.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, so when they expelled God from the schools, education became nothing but an expensive bad joke. Boredom led many to continuously check out any new high that hit the streets. The few who could write stayed up nights brainstorming new ways to commit heinous crimes and writing them down. Some plugged their ideas into the World Wide Web; others kept their notes to themselves and went off on their own local rampages. Most of the population lived along the coasts and riverbanks, where there were all-night drunken brawls and orgies on the sand.

Noah had a store in a coastal city where he sold food, clothing, and religious books. He got burglarized, vandalized, and robbed so many times. His insurance was cancelled. People boycotted and picketed his business because he refused to sell tarot cards, golden calves, horoscope charts, and x-rated videos. In his neighborhood, his store was the only clean business. He was surrounded by whorehouses, porno flick theaters, and occult parlors where people read palms and tea leaves. People also held séances with demons, who claimed to be dead friends and relatives and even angels of light.

Noah had three sons and decided this was no