When Your New Job Leads to Unpleasant Challenges
Scripture — Mark 1:12-13 (NRSV)
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
Focus
Before Jesus began his messianic ministry, he was tempted by Satan while he fasted in the wilderness for 40 days. That’s not how we’d like to begin a new career! Even if our situation isn’t quite the same as Jesus’s, nevertheless, Mark 1:12-13 offers the reassuring news that God is present amid our workplace mess. Just because things are hard, it doesn’t mean God has disappeared or removed the divine blessing from us. Moreover, as we struggle with our own temptations and difficulties, God will attend to us, perhaps through angels, and certainly through the ministrations of the Spirit and the care of our sisters and brothers in Christ. Trying times lead us to rely more fully on God, seeking divine wisdom, guidance, and comfort. They realign our hearts and strengthen us so that we might serve the Lord more fully and fruitfully.
This devotion is part of the series: Following Jesus in the Gospel of Mark.
Devotion
If you haven’t experienced it yourself, you probably know someone who has. You get a new job and are excited about what lies ahead. You sense that God is in the process of your job transition and you’re thankful for God’s gracious guidance. But, almost from the start, things in your new situation don’t go as you had hoped. Perhaps you run into conflict with colleagues or a lack of support from your new boss. Or maybe there is a huge gap between what you thought your job would be and the reality. Quickly, your sense of excitement disappears, and you begin to feel confused. Discouragement and despair aren’t far away. You wonder where God is, whether you completely missed God’s guidance. and whether God will rescue you from the workplace quicksand that seems to be swallowing you up.
Mark 1:12-13 won’t answer all the questions we ask in times when our work situation is not going well. But this passage does provide an intriguing perspective as we seek God’s presence, wisdom, and comfort.
Remember what happened in Mark’s narrative immediately before 1:12-13. Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John. As this happened, the Spirit descended on Jesus “like a dove” (1:10). A voice from heaven said, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” This may very well have been the emotional highlight of Jesus’s life to this point. Moreover, Jesus understood rightly that this was a call into a new kind of ministry, no longer the ministry of the carpenter’s workshop, but now the messianic ministry of the kingdom of God.
If we weren’t familiar with the Gospels, we might very well expect Jesus to start doing amazing things right away: preaching in an astonishing way, healing the sick, casting out demons, and so forth. After all, he’s got momentum on his side! Those miraculous actions will come soon. But what happens first in Mark’s account is rather shocking: “And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him” (1:12-13). The Spirit sent Jesus out into the wilderness, the place where prophets often received their call, the place where Israel once struggled with God’s will. Jesus, according to Mark, also faced challenges in the wilderness, where he was “tempted by Satan” and vulnerable to “the wild beasts.” Yet he received supernatural assistance from the “angels” who “waited on him.”
From the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, we learn more about what happened during Jesus’s temptation. By comparison, Mark’s account is strikingly brief. Yet, he implies that the Spirit of God sent Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. This temptation was not some accident or a surprise that God did not anticipate. Rather, God’s hand was upon Jesus even as he faced the dangers and temptations of the wilderness. God’s own Spirit sent Jesus to experience these very things.
I’m glad that I haven’t experienced exactly what Jesus did each time I take a new job! But I do know what it’s like to start a job with enthusiasm only to be disappointed by reality. I also know what it’s like to be tempted in a job to do something inappropriate. So, even if our situation isn’t quite the same as Jesus’s, nevertheless, Mark 1:12-13 offers the reassuring news that God is present amid our workplace mess. Just because things are hard, it doesn’t mean God has disappeared or removed the divine blessing from us. Moreover, as we struggle with our own temptations and difficulties, God will attend to us, perhaps through angels, and certainly through the ministrations of the Spirit and the care of our sisters and brothers in Christ. Trying times lead us to rely more fully on God, seeking divine wisdom, guidance, and comfort. They realign our hearts and strengthen us so that we might serve the Lord more fully and fruitfully.
Reflect
Have you ever experienced a job situation like the one I described in the first paragraph above? If so, did you sense God’s presence with you during that time? As you look back, can you see what God was doing in your life?
Are you experiencing difficulties or frustrations in your work right now? How is God present with you? In what ways do you need God’s help?
Can you see ways in which God is using the challenges of your work life to mold and shape you?
Act
Talk with a wise friend or your small group about how God has made a difference in times of job difficulty, stress, or disappointment.
Pray
Gracious God, thank you for being with us always, in times of triumph and times of loss, in times of rejoicing and times of temptation, in good times and bad times.
Lord, sometimes it’s hard to sense your presence or to know what you’re doing when our life doesn’t go as we had hoped. We can feel discouraged and confused. We can wonder what you’re doing, or even where you are.
As we walk through these times, Lord, help us to trust you, to seek you, to sense your presence. May we be attentive to what you are doing in our lives, to what you are saying to us.
Thank you, Lord, for working all things together for good. Amen.
Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Mark 1:12-13. Temptation at Work.
Mark D. Roberts
Senior Fellow
Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a Senior Fellow for Fuller’s Max De Pree Center for Leadership, where he focuses on the spiritual development and thriving of leaders. He is the principal writer of the daily devotional, Life for Leaders, and t...