Article February 19, 2018 Issue

What does God ‘require’ of me?

Emily Sander

Several years ago, I got to do some volunteer work in another country. It was an incredible experience. When I returned home, I needed to begin thinking about what to do next. I had a short-term, seasonal job lined up, but after that, I would need to find something else.

Each time I thought about my next steps, the thought of returning to the same country came to me. There was no doubt that I would like to go back, but I also wondered, Would it be the right thing to do? This was a question I couldn’t answer myself, so I turned to God for guidance—and I searched the Bible, Mary Baker Eddy’s writings, and the Christian Science Hymnal. I wondered what kind of direction these books could give for making decisions.

I found many helpful passages, but the main message I came away with can be summed up by the following two thoughts. First, from the book of Micah in the Bible, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (6:8) and then from a hymn, “Take my hands, and let them move / At the impulse of Thy love” (Frances R. Havergal, Hymnal, No. 324). These were familiar ideas, but in the context of my very real need for proper direction, they put my job search in a different light. For one thing, I loved the simplicity of these messages. Despite the uncertainty I’d felt about the “what” and “where” of my next steps, this guidance felt authoritative and straight from God, even though it didn’t get into specific details. I began to feel more confident that keeping my thoughts on God was enough to lay the right foundation for my search and that the logistics would fall into place.