The Bible Edge
Everyone needs an Edge, Believers can have the Bible Edge
1 Chronicles 28:20
And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.
Tomorrow begins a new month, as such according to this year’s plan for these devotions a new theme will begin. So, let’s close out this month’s business theme with one of the greatest Bible Edge verses concerning becoming successful in business.
In this verse David is about to pass away; he is speaking from his death bed to Solomon, his son who will succeed him as the king of Israel. David gives his son three great promises from God Almighty: God will be with Solomon, God will not fail Solomon, and God will not forsake Solomon. You have these same great promises. God will be with you, He will not fail you, and He will not forsake you. The Bible proves these out powerfully in the New Testament. But notice Solomon’s part.
Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed… The key to these is the one in the middle. ….do it…
This always reminds me of a story I read about years ago. A businessman passed by a boy playing in a mud puddle. The boy was doing a good job of it, and had mud from head to toe. The businessman asked the lad, “What are you trying to do?” To which he replied, “I’m not trying to do anything mister, I’m doing it!” Today there are many who are trying many things, but few actually doing it.
For a moment consider my job. I’m a pastor. To me the job of a pastor is succinctly described in Acts 6:4. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. There are two basic aspects of the job as pastor. Prayer and ministry of the word. These two can easily fill every hour of every week. They take work and determination to perform. Many things try to rob time, effort, and energy from these two tasks. Care for the buildings, overseeing the finances, training, planning, scheduling, visiting, hospital calls, etc., etc. These need to be done, and in every one though, the underlying job is to pray and minister the word. I’ve been guilty, and I do not think I’m alone here, of doing work, but not doing “it”. It being the primary job of prayer and ministry of the word. It’s easy to get sidetracked, bogged down, and off kilter. Your job is probably similar. The actual job, the thing that you must do, is probably very basic, but the entanglements make it difficult to do it, whatever the “it” is for you.
Do it. Just simply find out what your “it” is and do it. Deal with the issues, yes. Take care of the foxes that spoil the vine, yes. But overall, do it. As David gave an edge to his son, let it be your edge, your Bible Edge in business: Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed…
William Howe, Ph.D.