High Stakes Situations

Throughout our careers there will be pivotal decisions that have far reaching consequences. Even the day to day choices have big ramifications for our teams and companies. So how do we pray over and adopt the correct posture when making these decisions? Let’s look at three examples: one from Joab and two from Jesus.

Joab was in a high stakes situation as he entered into battle against the Ammonite and Aramean armies. They were about to attack him from the front and from behind and Joab knew there was a very high chance of defeat. One would expect Joab to ask God for blessing and victory, but instead he hands the outcome over to God. He tells his brother in 2 Samuel 10:12 “Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.” 

Joab’s posture is exactly what God desires from us. “And may the Lord do what seems good to him.” Since we serve an all powerful, all knowing God we should be courageous for our people and our business, all the while knowing we can trust God to carry out his perfect will. 

We also see this posture reflected in Matthew 6 when Jesus instructs us how to pray. He reminds us that God already knows what we need before we ask. He knows how high the stakes are in the situation at hand and yet He instructs us to pray that God’s will to be done on earth (and in our business) just like it is in heaven. 

Matthew 6:9-10 “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’”

Later in Matthew we see Jesus reflect this attitude again. Jesus is facing the most crucial moment of His earthly life. He is about to be betrayed, arrested, and crucified. While praying to His Father, He humbly makes His will known, yet asks for God’s will to be accomplished over His own. 

Matthew 26:39 says “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

It is good to make our desires and requests known to God. However, our prayer life should not be filled by asking God to accomplish our will, but rather that His will is accomplished. Similarly, if we think we hold all of the business insight and wisdom, we tend pray for our desired outcomes. However, if we truly believe God holds all of the insight and wisdom, this leads us to pray for His desired outcomes. 

Changing our prayer life starts with believing that Christ is supreme. We will find the most joy and comfort when His desired outcomes play out in our business. Trusting in Christ’s power allows us to pray like Him and knowing God is in control allows us to accept various outcomes for our business even when they are contrary to our own desires. 

Personal story – My business partner and I recently pursued an M&A deal that would have transformed our business. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity giving us  strategic competitive advantage, proprietary technology, and market control. In my mind, it was clearly the right move for the company. Everything in me desired for it to come to fruition. However, I took the deal to the Lord and continually asked for His will to be done over my own (with Joab’s statement resonating in the back of my mind). In the end, the deal fell through. While I still mourn over the missed opportunity, I trust that God’s will is supreme over mine and I take greater comfort in that. If I don’t continue trusting in God’s plan I would still have those “what if” scenarios creeping into my mind. Now I am just curious about God’s master plan and trust that He is working everything according to His will. 

There will be many pivotal decisions in our careers that affect many lives and businesses. Thankfully, these are opportunities to trust in God and hand the outcomes over to Him in prayer. We need to adopt Joab and Jesus’ postures of trusting in God’s ultimate plan for our business and our lives. 

What does your current prayer life say about your relationship with God? Is He the genie in the bottle that you rub when the stakes are high? Or is He your loving Father, someone that you seek a deep, trusting relationship with through every situation?