Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Journey Back to Shechem....

As our Sunday School class continues to study from Priscilla Shirer's "He speaks to me" series, the lessons couldn't be more timely for myself. This past week focused on having a set apart holiness. Shechem was a physical place in Genesis where God made a covenant with Abraham regarding his future and the future of his descendants. Many years later, Joshua took the Israelites back to this place to remind them of God's promises (see Joshua 24:15). Priscilla Shirer states, "We all have our 'shechems', ". She goes on to explain that our "shechem's" may not be physical but may be an emotional or mental state. For instance, the Lord may take you back to an emotional shechum to remind you of a painful memory or relationship. I had to encounter a journey back to shechum last week! As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently had a job interview. I made it through the first interview. I won't venture as far as to say that I was confident I had the job, but I will say that I felt at peace when I left the interview. The three women interviewing me told me that after all of the interviews, they would narrow their choices down to three prospects and those three would be re interviewed by the administrator. I was called for a second interview. From the moment I pulled into the parking lot for my second interview, something didn't feel right. I became overly concerned about my choice of clothing, my makeup, my hairstyle....once the interview started, I had difficulty forming sentences that made sense and I caught myself thinking about things on my "to do" list during the interview. We were 30 minutes into the interview when the lady interviewing me asked me how I felt about a service that was offered through their organization. This is something that I was strongly opposed to and it never occurred to me that I would have any involvement with this. I felt a flush of heat well up in me and attempted to avoid the question. I think I mumbled, "I'm not sure"....My thought was that I would avoid the question, go home and pray about the correct answer, then if offered the job I would defend my stance on this issue. That was not to happen....30 minutes later she returned to the question and politely said, "You never answered my previous question"...all of a sudden the strangest thing happened, tears welled up in my eyes and poured down my cheeks....I looked her and said, "Well, I guess this says it all, I have a problem with it". The interview adjourned after 30 minutes more of small talk and then the lady politely escorted me to the lobby and said goodbye in a tone that I knew meant that I would not be considered for the job. I went to my car and wept in the parking lot. I didn't weep because I didn't get the job, I wept because I was suddenly reminded of how well God knows me and that He allowed those silly tears during an interview to keep me from having to relive my own shechum, ....I had worked in a job several years ago outside of God's will and had prayed with everything in me for God's will to be done during this interview process. I also wept because all of a sudden I knew how Peter must have felt when he denied Jesus....had it not been for the sudden tears during my interview, I quite possibly would have went home and never addressed something that I strongly oppose. I have been thanking God ever since for those tears.

3 comments:

PotterMama said...

This made me smile. Thank you, Again, for your post's.

Barbara said...

Isn't it wonderful to know that God knows exactly where we are and the he will "perfect the things that concern us". Even when we may do something outside His will, He is there gently guiding and leading. It is a wonderful testimony of your walk with Him that you hear when he nudges you. Its a wonderful post Sue.

LisaShaw said...

Thanks for sharing your heart and all that you're gleaning in the bible study as well dear sister.

I so love you.