By Qiu Mu
It was close to midnight. Under an orange lamp, Qiu Yu was sitting at her desk alone, keeping busy with something. A few moments later, a design drawing was finished. She took it up, and watched it in every detail. But instantly, she threw it into the trash can with a long sigh. At that moment, the whole room was extremely silent, only the ticking of the clock on the wall could be heard. Qiu Yu was frowning at her drawing, her mind wandering back to the interview one year ago. …
It took place in a reception room of XX company. Qiu Yu, in a business suit, handed her resume to the personnel manager. After the manager scanned it, he exchanged a few words with several other staff in the room. Then, he said bluntly, “Your academic qualification is up to our company’s standard. But your experience is not enough to match our requirements. We suggest you try another company. …” Qiu Yu was slightly frustrated, but when she took her resume, she still replied politely, “Thank you.” Just as she was ready to turn away from them, the manager said, “If your professional standard can be improved, you still have an opportunity to come for our interview. But we need you to draw up a design plan then. If it can speak for your ability, we’ll arrange a suitable position for you.” Hearing the manager’s words, Qiu Yu seemed to regain a gleam of hope. She nodded and turned about, leaving the room. …
Now, Qiu Yu’s mind drifted back to the present. She stared at the XX company’s introduction and its advertisement for designers on her computer’s screen, thinking to herself: The company has good potential for future development. It also provides many opportunities for its employees to learn and promote their professional abilities. Over the last year, I worked to accumulate experience, and kept studying and poring over my professional knowledge as well. All I have done is to improve my own professional skills and complete an elaborate design scheme necessary to join this company. But now, I have no clue about it at all. I’m going for the interview tomorrow, and what if I fail again? The more she thought, the more agitated she got. She paced back and forth in her room, pondering: Usually, it is not so difficult for me to design a scheme, but why don’t I have any inspiration today? Suddenly, she thought of God and realized that this difficulty had befallen her with God’s permission and contained His benevolent will. She then knelt on the floor and prayed to God, “Oh, God, tomorrow I will go to this company for an interview. It is the second and probably the last chance for me to join this company. I don’t want to lose it. But I can’t understand why I have an idea in my heart, yet don’t know where to start, and even if I write something, I’ll find it unreasonable and reverse my thinking. God, I’m being on tenterhooks right now and much afraid of failing again. I ask You to guide me. I’m willing to seek Your will in such an environment.”
After praying to God, Qiu Yu opened the book of God’s word and saw the following words of God: “What occupation one chooses, how one makes a living: do people have any control over whether they make a good choice or a bad choice in these things? Do these things accord with people’s desires and decisions? Most people have the following wishes: to work less and earn more, not to toil in the sun and rain, to dress well, to glow and shine everywhere, to tower above others, and to bring honor to their ancestors. People hope for perfection, but when they take their first steps in the journey of their lives, they gradually come to realize how imperfect human destiny is, and for the first time they truly grasp the fact that, though one can make bold plans for one’s future and though one may harbor audacious fantasies, no one has the ability or the power to realize their own dreams, and no one is in a position to control their own future. There will always be some distance between one’s dreams and the realities that one must confront; things are never as one would like them to be, and faced with such realities, people can never achieve satisfaction or contentment. Some people will go to any length imaginable, will put forth great efforts and make great sacrifices for the sake of their livelihoods and future, in an attempt to change their own fate. But in the end, even if they can realize their dreams and desires by means of their own hard work, they can never change their fates, and no matter how doggedly they try, they can never exceed what destiny has allotted them” (“God Himself, the Unique III”).
God’s word was like a flash of lightning, which made her come to understand that what career she would choose in her life is controlled and arranged by God, not by herself. Her own ideal occupation seemed perfect, but it wouldn’t necessarily be appropriate for her; only what God arranges for her is the best. It was just like the stories of many relatives and friends around her. At first, they unknowingly missed out on the job they had dreamed about, but got involved in the industry to which they were brand new, and they even did well or thrived in this field. Many people, however, couldn’t wake up to it. Instead, they always wanted to rely on their hard work to accomplish their own dreams and change their own destiny, thus bringing endless pain and hurt for themselves. Then, a friend popped into her mind: If that friend had applied her mind to her original job, she would have been qualified for it, and even have done it better than anyone else. However, she said that the job didn’t fit her and so left her company resolutely. Later, she chose and then quit the occupations to her liking one after another. Her time and energy were spent, but she suffered a complete defeat. Ultimately, she had to return to her original position again. At that time, by considering this living example in reality, Qiu Yu gained some understanding of God’s sovereignty, and consequently, her restless heart was able to calm down gradually.
Afterward, she read some sections of God’s words, which say, “So when people recognize God’s sovereignty over human fate, the clever ones choose to know it and accept it, to bid farewell to the painful days when they tried to build a good life with their own two hands, and to stop struggling against fate and pursuing their so-called ‘life goals’ in their own way. When one does not have God, when one cannot see Him, when one cannot clearly recognize God’s sovereignty, every day is meaningless, worthless, miserable.” “Those who seek to know God are able to set aside their desires, are willing to submit to God’s sovereignty and God’s arrangement, and they try to be the kind of people who are submissive to God’s authority and who satisfy God’s desire. Such people live in the light and in the midst of God’s blessings, and they will surely be commended by God” (“God Himself, the Unique III”).
Reading God’s words, Qiu Yu nodded acknowledgement of them and remembered what had happened recently: The moment she learned XX company advertised for designers which meant she would have another opportunity to go for the interview, she was excited endlessly. She turned over in her mind how to conceive an elaborate plan which could be approved by the personnel manager and other staff of the company so that she could join their company successfully. For this reason, Qiu Yu had paid a great price for the design plan. From this afternoon, she had been pondering over how to plot out the design, but she still couldn’t work out a satisfying design till it was deep into the night. At the thought that her interview of tomorrow would thus fail, Qiu Yu extremely worried, growing irritable and anxious…. Recalling what she behaved this night, she saw that she had no knowledge of God’s sovereignty and was making a fool of herself like a buffoon. That was really too miserable and pitiful! In fact, whether she could join XX company was controlled by God. God completes what He says He will complete. If God didn’t arrange for her to join that company, no matter how hard she worked, it would count for nothing. What she should did now was to entrust the interview and her job to God and obeyed His sovereignty and arrangement. Only this was the wisest choice, and was also the sense and attitude a creation should possess when he stood in front of his Creator. Just as what God’s word says, “There is nothing God cannot do, but if God obstructs something then that becomes something that cannot be done, that shouldn’t be done. God obstructs the things that shouldn’t be done and He won’t allow them to be done” (“Only When One Has the Truth as Life Can One Resist Evil Trends”).
Furthermore, through God’s word, Qiu Yu comprehended that when God demands us to submit to His sovereignty and arrangement, He is not to ask us to sit waiting about all day, but rather, to learn to experience the words and work of God in whether big or small things in our daily life, and also to seek God’s will and know His sovereignty from each matter He sets for us. Take Job as an example. Before God’s trials came upon him, he just had heard of God but never seen Him. However, he could use his heart to appreciate God’s intentions within the people, things and events God had placed around him, and got to know God’s sovereignty, thereby coming to obtain true faith in God and obedience to Him. When the trial befell Job, all his property and his children were stripped away, even his whole body became covered in boils. But he still could have faith in God’s sovereignty, believing firmly that both blessings and deprivation came from God, and moreover, he was still able to praise and bless Jehovah, thus standing witness to God before Satan. In the end, because Job had true faith in God and was able to fear God and obey Him, he was saved by God and received His blessing.
At that moment, Qiu Yu was so moved and her heart was relieved. She understood that God’s arrangement is forever good—whatever method He uses or regardless of what environment and difficulties He allows man to come across, He wants to make man into a person who reveres and obeys Him. Only those people can be saved by God and receive His blessing.
Qiu Yu gave thanks to God for His orchestrating the difficulty for her and for making her understand God’s intention and requirement through her praying and seeking. Regardless of the outcome of tomorrow’s interview, or no matter whether her future job was her expected one or not, she would submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangement. When Qiu Yu came again before God and offered up her prayer to Him, her heart became brightened immediately and her mind, also, became clear. And soon, an idea for her scheme occurred to her. With a warm smile, she put the book of God’s word into the drawer cautiously. She then walked to her desk, picked up the pen again, and with her head bowed, she went on her work …
