Amidst a Humbling Circumstance

When I arrived in Wisconsin a few months ago, I knew I needed a job- pronto. I had loan payments like sharks, nipping at my toes. Each day, I was applying to four or five places of employment and, despite having a college education, I knew no jobs were beneath me. I needed to work. Low and behold, Walmart called me about my application almost immediately. I went in for an interview and, after a second interview, I signed the paperwork and became an employee.

However, for two weeks, I heard nothing about my ensuing first day of work. As I waited, I began to question my decision to work at Walmart. Internally, I heard whispers saying I was better than Walmart and shouldn't lower myself to its level. Satan was whispering pride but, the more I thought about it, the more I saw that God always teaches me valuable things when I am willing to take a servant's lowly position.

"Humbling" is the best word to describe the period of waiting to work at Walmart. I wasn't waiting for a prestigious job that utilized my college degree. Instead, I was waiting for a job that would pay minimum wage.

Over the course of my life, I have had seventeen different jobs and almost all of them have been different and taught me different skills. I love variety and learning new things because it makes me feel capable of many things, as if I am becoming a Jack-of-all-trades. With Walmart, however, I figured there was nothing for me to gain by working there.

That is when I read James 1: 9-11, "Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position." 

I took that as confirmation that God would teach me valuable things in my walk with Him during my time as a lowly Sales Associate. I might not learn valuable job skills but maybe I would learn a thing or two about humility. Besides, my life is not about the job I get, it is about serving Christ. I could start my job at Walmart confident and full of pride in God and his ability, not mine. God will certainly do things through me and my job at Walmart.

And so, like most jobs, I come in every day and hear people spreading rumors, complaining about customers, swearing, and talking about the idols with which they fill their lives. Amidst a humbling circumstance, I ask God to let me see my own faults; to see my own gossip, my own unnecessary complaining, my own swearing, and my own idols that steal from my walk with Christ. I am not above this job; I am not above these people. We are all broken. We all need Christ. 

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.