Remain in Ordained Place
Isaiah 1:3 (NASB)
3 “An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand.”
The image above of a donkey in his master’s manger can be used to illustrate a believer remaining in their ordained place where God has appointed them.
Believers in every walk of life have to be faithful and steadfast where God has planted them. Typically, when a Laymen goes to college or a Levite goes to bible school that is the high point of their lives when they are full of hope for a bright future and are preparing for an occupation or ministry and preparing for future marriage and family.
But when a professional or a tradesman becomes the best in their field then typically there is nothing left for them to do but remain faithful at it. A master of his trade or profession can almost do such a job in their sleep so there is nothing left for them but to be faithful at it on a daily basis. This can become quite boring as they do the same thing day in and day out like a machine or a robot. Gone is the excitement of preparing for a profession or trade and aspiring to become the best.
The same can be said of Levites who discover their gift and calling and learn to flow with it. Flowing with their gift and calling can become as natural to them as breathing without any effort at all. At this point they have become a master of their calling but at the same time they have to remain faithful because being a “master” of something can be boring just like someone who has climbed to the top of a high mountain peak and there is no more advancement left for them and they cannot climb any higher.
At this point of becoming a “master” both the Laymen and the Levite must learn to be faithful where God planted them and do not “jump-ship” or seek to trash everything looking for some excitement by seeking a new place to settle down. There are numerous believers who have trashed everything they had only because they became bored with their lot in life.
If a person has found their ordained place and discovered their God-given occupation or gift or calling then that is when they must put down roots and refuse to ever be moved away from the place where God has assigned them. There have been numerous believers who left their ordained place and have lost everything as a result and have become shipwrecked. Most often this was because they were bored with their assignment and no longer happy with their lot in life. Leaving their ordained place however is like a sheep gone astray from the shepherd. A stray sheep has left their place of provision and has left their place of protection and have wandered off alone by themselves and are just waiting to be devoured within a woods that is full of wolves!
Often these types of people will “lie” and use the Name of the Lord in vain saying, “The Lord has called me to move on to a new place now!” But then they make themselves into a stray sheep by leaving their ordained place and they will become shipwrecked. Then these same people will typically get offended at God for their bad misfortune as if it was God’s fault for letting it happen. However, they were the ones who became bored and lied and said that God is telling them to leave and attempted to justify themselves when they uprooted everything to go somewhere else looking for “greener-pastures” on their own. They caused their own shipwreck and disaster by their own self-will when they determined to leave God’s ordained place for their lives.
I tried several times to leave the place where God had assigned me and in doing so, I discovered that I had no joy or peace except I remained in my ordained place. I was never so happy when I was back on the plane returning again to my ordained place and thanked God that I was able to recover from the mistake and still had the opportunity to go back again. There are some believers who totally shipwrecked their lives completely and it was impossible for them ever to return again.
I knew of a woman believer who left her good and faithful husband because she was bored and went out to have a “fling” and to seek some “romance” in the world. Her husband was totally devastated when she left him and eventually, he remarried again. But this same unfaithful wife later discovered that all of her “fantasy-romance” endeavors had come to ashes and then she mourned that she had ever left the best man that she ever had. But there was no restoring the marriage again since he had already remarried to someone else. Later this same broken-hearted man passed away due to a terminal disease possibly caused by the unforgiveness he carried for his first unfaithful wife.
Believers have to guard themselves not to yield to the compulsion to trash something good only because they are bored. Many have become shipwrecked who did not exercise self-control and remain in the marriage or job or occupation or location or ministry where God had assigned them. To become shipwrecked means that their ship was broken into splinters and there was no way that it could ever be repaired again. Being shipwrecked speaks of total and complete devastation.
Hobbies or Passions that Distract
It also should be noted that hobbies and recreational pleasures should not be considered as an occupation. Typically, a man is not allowed to engage in such passions as an occupation and cannot make a living at such things. For example, even if they love guns and hunting, there are few who are able to become a professional hunter and gunsmith. They may be able to take a hunting trip once a decade or maybe a bit more frequently to enjoy themselves but most often for most men they cannot make such passions into an occupation and work at them on a full-time basis.
If a man drops his God-given trade or occupation or profession or ministry just to purse hobbies or passions then they can become shipwrecked. Yes, God does give them times of respite and God will give them opportunities to have a vacation time or a wonderful trip and even bless them with great satisfaction on such occasions. But at the same time men should not be deceived that just because God blessed them with an awesome time of great satisfaction on vacation that this is a license for them to quit their job or profession or trade or ministry and pursue that hobby on a full-time basis.
This is one more factor that has caused some believers to shipwreck when they left their ordained place only to pursue hobbies and passions. Hobbies and passions are to be used for occasional times of respite and enjoyment and God grants these desires of the heart as a blessing to his children for being faithful. But never should the believer latch onto these things and suppose that they can passionately ditch everything else and go full-time in chasing their passions. Passions are only for times of respite and when God is blessing a believer. This in no way should be misunderstood as God’s endorsement for them to abandoned their ordained place in order to pursue passions.
At times the Lord blessed me so tremendously with the fulfillment of a passion that I later had remorse that this glorious time came to an end and I had to return again to my ordained place. I wanted to remain in full-time pursuit of that passion but knew I could not. Then I carried around a dissatisfaction for many years and even fell into self-pity not being happy with my own lot in life.
This type of thing occurs frequently with many believers both laymen and Levites and it is detrimental to their relationship with God. They are to keep and maintain a pure heart motives before God and give thanksgiving and praise to God for all of the rewards God grants to them. But they should not make an idol out of these nice things or pursue their passions or things God permitted them to do as a reward in life. They cannot live their entire lives in the “reward-zone” of just having a full-time vacation and pursuing hobbies with abandon.
Most of the time the believer is required to be faithful in the job or occupation or profession or ministry which God has assigned to them. Just because God granted them a time of respite and even gave them the capacity for great fulfillment and satisfaction on a vacation time this is no endorsement that they can pursue such passions on a full-time basis. They cannot live on “vacation” forever but must return to their ordained place and be faithful where God has planted them.
This is all related to having the right heart condition before God. The believer must guard their hearts and not slip into the attitude of offense or self-pity because they were unable to pursue their passion full-time. Many believers have become shipwrecked by leaving their ordained place to pursue “passions” which were only granted by God as a time of “respite” not as a license to follow that passion on a full-time basis.
Not putting both hands to the plow speaks of when a man is not fully focused on his God-given assignment. During biblical times (when they still plowed with animal labor) they had to hold the plow in the furrow with both hands while the oxen pulled it through the field. They could not look over their shoulder at anything else because they were required to put both hands on the plow and give complete attention to what they were doing.
This illustration has ready application for both Laymen and Levites because both groups must focus their attention on what God has given them to do. They cannot be looking over their shoulder at what others are doing or compare themselves with others and they also cannot be distracted by seeking to pursue hobbies or passions of some kind.
The fact of the matter is that life is basically boring once they are a master of their trade or profession or ministry calling. Once they are a “master” they have to be faithful every day and not be distracted from what God has assigned them to do. They are not to leave their ordained location or their ordained city or their ordained job or business or ministry or spouse or family.
Being Faithful Where Planted
Before a believer can be content where they are at, they must first resolve this heart issue that they will not leave their ordained place where God has appointed them. They must be satisfied where God has planted them and this relates to having a steadfast spirit.
Psalm 51:10 (NIV)
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
To have a steadfast spirit is to remain “steadfast” or immovable and not having any type of changeableness.
These are all heart issues that have to be corrected before someone can be content with their lot in life and be satisfied where God has planted them. God has an ordained place and location for each person to live and an ordained job and occupation or trade or ministry for every believer. There is an ordained city or location or region where they are called to remain. They should not leave their ordained place because this is where God planted them.
Often the laymen will envy a Levite thinking it would be great to stand in front of the congregation and have all of the limelight and human attention and to preach once a week. But often the Levite envies the layman wishing he could have a job or business to provide a steady income for his family so he does not have to live by faith. But both parties are wrong to compare themselves to others. Both the Levite and the Laymen need to be faithful where God has planted them. Until the Levite puts both hands on the ministry plow, he will be distracted and the same is also true for the Laymen who must put both hands on his occupation or job or business and not be distracted from what God has given him to do in life.
It is this dissatisfaction that must be dealt with as part of the heart issues that affect every believer. Until they are content where God has planted them, they will not progress. Being content is an act of the human will and they can become content by their own free choice. Discontentment can drive a wedge between themselves and God and so they have to deal with heart motives and stop trying to escape God’s ordained place for their live. This is what it means to have a steadfast spirit that remained the same day-in and day-out and is not distracted by impulses or passions for other things nor does it seek to escape where God has assigned them.
Isaiah 1:19 (NIV)
19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land;
The believer is to be both willing and obedient to remain where God has planted them. If they will do this, they will always eat the best of the land (speaking of God’s blessing upon their lives). But if the believer is unwilling, they can disqualify themselves from God’s blessing.
Therefore, the believer should pray to God that they will have a good heart motive and God would create in them a clean heart that is free of bad attitudes and motives and is fully willing and obedient to the Lord.
Soil Types and Heart Types
Mark 4:13-20 (NIV)
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?
14 The farmer sows the word.
15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;
19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop–thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
The soil types in this parable speak of human heart conditions and motives. There is hard packed soil where the word of God is unable to have effect in a hard-hearted believer. There is rocky soil where the believer has no depth of roots or staying power to face pressure of circumstances so they give up and back off the word. There is thorny soil where the believer is distracted by the things of the world so they become unfruitful spiritually. Finally, there is good soil types referring to those of a good heart who receive the word of God and hold onto it and will not be backed off by satanic persecution or trouble but instead hold steadfast to the word of God until they receive the answers to their prayers.
It is important that the believer examine their personal heart condition and repent of anything that may keep them from being a good soil-type believer. The believer should pray that the Lord will create within them a clean heart which is free of impure motives and has staying power and is separated from the defilement of the world and which produces a good harvest from the word of God in the form of answered prayers.