day 19: Working Our Way Up

Have you every felt like you are in a job or doing a task that is “below you”? Many times in my career I was faced with working with people who didn’t feel like they had to do jobs to ready and prepare themselves. They just thought that they should be able to move directly into a bigger role because they were confident that they had the skills and potential to be successful. But, in most cases, that is not the way it works. The way it works, is that you are asked to “work your way up” and are given experiences and jobs that will prepare you for the bigger ones in the future. This doesn’t sit well with a lot of people and I would venture to say that all of us at one time or another question why it is that we have to wait or clear hurdles to get to the next level. Many times it is for experience and wisdom. While it may appear on the surface that the job grade above us doesn’t look all that hard and for sure, if our boss can do it (said with sarcasm) we can do it too, the fact is that experience is important. Sometimes it is experience that comes from just doing it and knowing the difference between how to do it well or not, or sometimes it is real knowledge that contributes to an ability to be successful. There are many Biblical examples of people being prepared for what it was in life they were to achieve. One of the best examples is found in Psalms 78: 70-72. In this passage we succinctly are told that King David was chosen to be King but not before he had learned as a boy to be a successful shepherd so that he had the skill to shepherd men. Verse 72 says about David; “He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands”. One of the greatest men, leaders and warriors of all time had to do his time in one of the lowliest of jobs as a shepherd so that he could learn how it was to be a skillful leader of men. One could wonder how successful David might not have been if not for the lessons learned in the pastures and hills of Israel. We will all feel at some point as though we are being held back and having to be taught something we don’t feel necessary to learn. In those times, might we not be better off remembering that we are being prepared for something bigger and better and if we allow ourselves to have the learning heart of King David, then we will make the most of the experience and get the most from the learning.


Reference: Psalms 78: 70-72 (New Living Testament)