My God-Given Task

I’ve always been a very task-oriented person. Give me a job, and by George I’ll get it done! Give me a deadline, and I’ll mark it down and meet it! Got something that needs doing? Ask me! I’ll say yes! Am I over-committing my time and energies? Absolutely! Does that matter? Absolutely not! People need me, and I need to fill their needs.

But after fifty-some-odd years of all that “task-i-ness,” I still wonder, “What unique ‘task’ does God have in mind for me...have I come anywhere near accomplishing it yet...what is my specific purpose in service to him?”

With no real answer in view, I just continued to go and go and go, and do and do and do. Then recently, God finally said, “WHOA!” My body caved to exhaustion, and I went down for the count for a few days. I couldn’t complete the simplest task. I had to say “no” to commitments I had made in good faith to people who were counting on me.

So in my distress, I turned to God’s word, and he relieved me with these truths:

“I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied...I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives.” Ecclesiastes 3:10 & 12.

“Offer right sacrifices, and trust in the Lord.” Psalm 4:5

Rejoice...do good...offer right sacrifices...trust in the Lord. Those are difficult challenges for a task-oriented person—so general—so intangible—no specific deadline to meet. But I’m beginning to realize that if I fail in these God-given tasks, all my other “task-i-ness” will only be “grasping for the wind.”

So, thank you Lord, for defining my tasks. I’m trusting you for the grace to complete them.