The email arrived on a Thursday evening while Adaku was still in the dispensary at the teaching hospital in Enugu. She read it twice standing up, then sat down on the stool behind the counter and read it again.
The offer was from a large pharmaceutical distributor. The position was Head of Commercial Operations, South-East and South-South. The salary was nearly three times what she earned as a senior hospital pharmacist. There was a car, a housing allowance and a phrase she had only ever seen on other people’s LinkedIn profiles: reporting directly to the Managing Director.
By Saturday her mother had told two aunties and the women’s fellowship. “My daughter is now a head,” she said on the phone, and Adaku could hear her smiling. Her husband was quieter. He was proud of her, but he asked where they would live, and whether she had read the part about travel. Her son, who was four, asked whether the new job had a car with a television in it.
Adaku had read the part about travel. It said she would spend “up to three weeks in four” visiting hospitals, clinics and distributors across nine states. Another line said she would be “accountable for achieving aggressive regional sales targets through strategic relationship management with institutional procurement officers.” She was not entirely sure what that meant, and she was not sure she wanted to find out.
That Sunday she drove to see Mrs Nwosu, who had been the chief pharmacist when Adaku arrived at the hospital as a nervous intern twelve years earlier. Mrs Nwosu was retired now. She listened to the whole story on her veranda, peeling oranges with a small knife, and then she asked one question.
Punchline“Forget the title for a moment, my dear. What will you actually be doing on a Tuesday?”
Adaku realised she did not know.
A title is not a job description
Career opportunities usually arrive dressed in their best clothes. The title, the salary and the prestige are the parts we see first, and they are designed to be attractive. None of those things is wrong. But they are the outside of the opportunity, and a wise decision requires us to look at the inside as well.
There is an old story in Genesis about a man who chose by what he could see. Abram and his nephew Lot had both grown wealthy, and the land could not support their combined flocks. Abram generously offered Lot the first choice of where to settle. Watch how Lot chose:
And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD , like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
“And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where.” Lot looked, and what he saw was green. The plain was “even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt.” In a dry country, that was the obvious choice. Any sensible herdsman would have taken it.
But the narrator adds a quiet line that changes everything: “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.” Lot assessed the grass and did not assess the city. He weighed the economic opportunity and ignored the moral environment. At first he only “pitched his tent toward Sodom.” By chapter 19 he is living inside it, sitting in the gate, with a family that has absorbed its values. When judgement came, he escaped with his life and very little else.
Lot’s mistake was not choosing good pasture. Providing for his household was a legitimate concern. His mistake was letting the visible advantages decide the matter before he had considered everything else the choice would bring with it.
That is the first discipline of a wise career decision. Separate the title from the job. Ask what the work actually involves, day by day and week by week. Ask what it will demand of your time, your family, your health and your conscience. Ask what kind of people you will spend your days with and what kind of culture rewards success there. A green plain can sit right beside Sodom.
Ask God for wisdom
James wrote to believers scattered by persecution, people facing trials that demanded decisions they did not feel equipped to make. In the middle of that, he gave them a promise:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
“If any of you lack wisdom.” James assumes that we will. Wisdom here is not a high IQ or a talent for analysis. It is the God-given ability to see a situation rightly and to act well in it. It is precisely what we need when we are standing in front of an offer letter, unsure what to do.
“Let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.” Look at how James describes God. He gives liberally, which means generously, simply, without hidden conditions. And He upbraideth not. He does not scold you for asking. He does not say, “You should have worked this out yourself,” or, “Why did you not ask Me sooner?” You can come to Him in your confusion and receive help without reproach. For a child of God who has been made righteous in Christ, the door is open.
“And it shall be given him.” That is a promise. It may not come as a voice or a vision. More often it comes as clarity: a question that suddenly needs asking, a detail you had missed, a conversation that brings the matter into focus, a growing settledness about what is right. Mrs Nwosu’s question about Tuesday was, for Adaku, part of the answer to her prayer.
“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” The wavering person in this passage is the one who asks God for wisdom while keeping his options open on whether he will actually follow it. James compares him to a wave on the sea, driven back and forth by the wind. Asking in faith means asking as someone who intends to act on what God shows. It does not mean you must feel no uncertainty about the decision itself. It means your heart is settled on wanting God’s way more than your own preference.
So begin there. Before you build the spreadsheet of pros and cons, before you call your relatives, bring the opportunity to the Father and ask Him plainly for wisdom. Then keep asking as you gather information. Prayer is the setting in which the rest of the work happens.
What will the work make of you?
Mrs Nwosu’s question opens up several others that deserve honest answers.
What will you actually do? Read the job description slowly, and then try to talk to someone who has done the job. Ask what a normal week looks like. A role that sounds strategic may turn out to be mostly sales calls. A role that sounds modest may give you room to grow in ways you had not imagined.
What will it ask of your character? Some roles require you to work in environments where integrity is constantly under pressure. Phrases like “relationship management with procurement officers” can mean honest service, or they can be a polite way of describing inducements. You need to know which before you sign. Proverbs reminds us that “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches” (Proverbs 22:1).
What will it ask of your household? Three weeks in four away from a four-year-old is a real cost. It may be a cost a particular family can bear in a particular season, with the right support. It may not. That conversation needs to happen with your spouse before the decision is made, not after.
What will it do with your gifts? Some opportunities stretch us in exactly the direction God has been growing us. Others pull us away from the work we are most fitted for. More money in a role that wastes your best gifts may be a poor trade.
What are the actual terms? Read the contract, not only the offer letter. Ask about the probation period, how performance will be measured, what happens if targets are missed, and whether the allowances are guaranteed or discretionary. Ask why the position is vacant. A company that answers these questions openly is telling you something good about itself. One that becomes evasive is telling you something too.
The writer to the Hebrews describes a man who once turned down one of the most prestigious titles in the ancient world:
By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
Moses “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” He had been raised in the palace with every privilege Egypt could offer. But he saw what the title would require of him: separation from the people of God and participation in their oppression. He weighed it, and he chose differently, “for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.”
We should be careful here. Moses’ situation was unique, and his refusal is not a rule that believers must always turn down promotion. Joseph accepted the second highest office in Egypt and served God faithfully in it (Genesis 41:41). Daniel rose to high office in Babylon. Paul told believers who were slaves, “if thou mayest be made free, use it rather” (1 Corinthians 7:21). Taking a better opportunity is often exactly right. Ambition to grow, earn more and provide well is not sinful in itself. The point of Moses’ story is that he looked past the title to what it would make of him, and judged by a longer measure than the immediate reward.
NuggetSeparate the title from the job. A good decision asks what the work will require of you on an ordinary Tuesday, and what it will make of you over the years.
The motives beneath the choice
Alongside the questions about the job, there is a question about you. Why do you want it?
Most of us want a new opportunity for a mixture of reasons, and some of them are good. We want to provide for our families. We want to use our training. We want to grow, to be stretched, to contribute at a higher level. A parent paying school fees for three children in Lagos has every reason to take a better salary seriously, and there is nothing unspiritual about that.
But other motives can hide among the good ones. We may want the title because a classmate has one. We may want to prove something to a parent who never thought we would amount to much. We may want to escape a difficult boss or an unhappy home, and a new job looks like a door out. We may simply want to be the person the women’s fellowship is talking about.
When the prophet Jeremiah’s scribe Baruch was discouraged and anxious about his own prospects, God sent him a short, searching word: “And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not” (Jeremiah 45:5). Baruch had linked his future to a nation that was about to fall. God did not condemn him for wanting a future. He told him that his life would be preserved, and that he should stop grasping for greatness in a place God was about to dismantle.
The psalmist adds a perspective that loosens the grip of ambition:
For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
“Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.” No particular company, city or country holds the key to your future. “But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” That is a great comfort when you are anxious about missing an opportunity. If the Lord is the One who sets up, you do not need to seize every open door out of fear that no other will come.
This matters especially for the many Nigerians weighing whether to relocate abroad. Moving to another country for work can be a wise and fruitful decision. Many believers have done it well, served God faithfully and blessed their families at home. But the same questions apply. What will the work actually be? What will it ask of your marriage, your children, your elderly parents, your church life? Are you running toward something, or only running away? Mrs Nwosu’s Tuesday question works in Toronto and Manchester as well as in Port Harcourt.
So be honest with God about your reasons. You will not shock Him. Name the good motives and thank Him for them. Name the mixed ones and ask Him to purify them. A decision made with your motives in the light is far safer than one driven by hungers you have not admitted.
Counsel from more than one voice
Scripture places great value on seeking advice before a significant decision:
Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.
“Without counsel purposes are disappointed.” Plans made alone often fail, because one person can see only so much. “But in the multitude of counsellors they are established.” The word multitude matters. Proverbs does not tell you to find one person and do whatever they say. It tells you to hear from many.
Different counsellors see different things. A spouse sees the household. A parent may see your history and your temperament, though love can make them anxious or ambitious on your behalf. A mentor in your field sees the professional realities. A pastor or mature believer can help you think about your motives and your walk with God. A friend who has made a similar move can tell you what the brochure left out. Each sees part of the picture.
Choose counsellors who will tell you the truth. King Rehoboam, at the start of his reign, consulted the older men who had served his father, and they gave him wise advice. But “he forsook the counsel of the old men” and listened instead to the young men he had grown up with, who told him what he wanted to hear (1 Kings 12:8). The result split the kingdom. It is tempting to keep asking until someone agrees with the decision we have already made. Wisdom asks people who are free to disagree.
Adaku received counsel that pointed in several directions. Her mother said, “Take it. Opportunities like this do not come twice.” Her husband said he would support whatever she decided, but he was honest that he was worried about the travel. Her pastor encouraged her to pray and not to rush. Mrs Nwosu asked questions and refused to give an answer. Each of them was helpful, and none of them could make the decision for her.
That is normal. Counsel informs a decision. It rarely makes it.
How God directs our steps
Some believers expect God to direct a career decision through a dramatic sign, and they freeze until one comes. Others make the decision entirely on practical grounds and then ask God to bless it. Proverbs holds the two together:
A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.
“A man’s heart deviseth his way.” We are expected to think, plan and weigh options. God has given us minds, and He expects us to use them. “But the LORD directeth his steps.” Over and through our planning, God is at work, guiding the actual path our feet take.
Paul’s missionary journeys show this clearly. He made plans to preach in Asia and then in Bithynia, and the Holy Spirit prevented him both times (Acts 16:6-7). Paul was not sitting still waiting for instructions. He was moving, planning and trying doors. And as he moved, God closed some and opened another, until a vision of a man from Macedonia made the way clear (Acts 16:9-10). God directed the steps of a man who was already walking.
Expect God to guide you in similar ways. He may close a door you were trying to open. He may bring a piece of information to light at exactly the right moment. He may give you a settled peace about one option and an unease you cannot shake about another. Paul tells the Colossians, “let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15), and the word rule there means to act as an umpire, to make the call. That peace is not the same as excitement, and it is not the same as the absence of fear. It is a quiet settledness that grows as you pray and walk honestly before God.
Be wary of anyone who claims to have a word from God that you must take a particular job, especially if they gain something from your decision. God does speak through His people, and a genuine word will usually confirm what He is already showing you. But no one else can carry the responsibility of hearing God for your life.
Owning the decision
PunchlineEventually the asking, the investigating and the counsel must come to an end, and a decision must be made. And it must be yours.
Paul, writing about a different kind of question, set down a principle that applies here: “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” (Romans 14:5). He was dealing with matters of conscience on which sincere believers differed. He refused to let one believer make the decision for another. Each person was to stand before God with convictions he actually held.
A few verses later he adds, “Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth” (Romans 14:22). There is a particular kind of peace that comes from making a decision you can stand behind before God, even if others disagree with it. And there is a particular kind of misery that comes from doing something you were pressured into while your conscience was still unsettled.
It is easy to try to hand the weight of a career decision to someone else. We let a parent decide so that we can blame them later. We ask a pastor to pray and then do whatever he says, so that the responsibility is his. We wait for a sign so that the choice will feel like God’s and not ours. But God has given you a mind, a conscience and His Spirit. He invites you to use them.
Owning the decision also means owning its consequences. Every choice closes other doors. If you take the job, you will have to live with the travel and the pressure. If you decline it, you will have to live with the salary you did not receive and the relatives who think you were foolish. Count those costs honestly, and then choose the path you are persuaded is right.
Whatever you choose, in His name
Paul gives the Colossians a principle wide enough to cover every decision a believer makes:
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
“Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” To do something in the name of Jesus means to do it as His representative, in a way consistent with His character, under His authority. It is a test that can be applied to any career option. Can I do this work in the name of Jesus? Can I represent Him in this office, with these targets, among these colleagues? Can I give thanks to the Father for it?
This also frees us from a particular kind of fear. Some believers are paralysed by the idea that there is one perfect job God has chosen for them, and that if they miss it, they will spend the rest of their lives outside His will. Scripture does not describe guidance that way. God is not hiding His will like a coin in the sand, waiting to see whether we find it. He guides those who ask Him, and He works in all things for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Very often there is more than one good choice, and the question is less “Which job is the only right one?” and more “Can I do this one in His name and with thanksgiving?”
And if, after all your prayer and counsel, you choose and later discover you got it wrong, God is still with you. Lot made a poor choice, and still the Lord sent angels to bring him out of Sodom. Your Father’s faithfulness does not depend on the perfection of your career decisions. You can learn, adjust and move on, still in His name.
Adaku did what Mrs Nwosu suggested. She asked the company if she could speak to the person who had held the role before. They gave her a number, a little reluctantly, and she called a man in Port Harcourt who had left after fourteen months. He was honest with her. The travel was relentless. The targets were steep, and some people met them in ways he was not comfortable with. “You can do it cleanly,” he told her, “but you will be swimming against the current every day.”
She talked with her husband late into several nights. She prayed. She made a list, and then tore it up and made another. And slowly, over about three weeks, she found that the peace she was waiting for was settling on one side of the question.
She declined the offer. Her mother was disappointed and told her so. One of her colleagues, who received a similar offer from another company that same year, accepted it and thrived. Adaku was glad for her. Different woman, different family, different season.
Eight months later, a new specialist hospital in Enugu advertised for a lead clinical pharmacist to build their medication safety programme. The salary was better than her old one, though nowhere near the distributor’s. The title was smaller. But when she read the job description, she knew exactly what she would be doing on a Tuesday, and it was the work she loved.
She went back to Mrs Nwosu’s veranda to tell her. The old woman smiled and handed her a peeled orange. “So you chose the Tuesday,” she said.
“I chose the Tuesday,” Adaku said.
Teaching Companion
For Reflection
- Think of an opportunity you are considering, or one you faced in the past. What attracted you first: the title, the salary, or the work itself?
- How would you answer Mrs Nwosu’s question: what will you actually be doing on a Tuesday?
- Who are the counsellors in your life who are free to disagree with you? Have you asked them?
- Do you tend to hand big decisions to someone else, or to wait for a sign, rather than owning the choice before God?
- How might Colossians 3:17 help you test the options in front of you?
This Week
If you are facing a career decision, write down three things this week. First, the attractions of the opportunity, honestly named. Second, a description of an ordinary working week in the role, gathered from the job description and, if possible, from someone who has done it. Third, the names of three or four people who see different parts of your life, and arrange to ask each of them for counsel. Bring all three lists to God in prayer, asking Him for wisdom, and wait for His peace before you decide. If you are not facing a decision now, use the same exercise to review the job you already have.
A Prayer
Father, thank You that You give wisdom generously to all who ask, and that You do not scold me for asking. I bring You the decisions in front of me. Help me to see past the title and the salary to the work itself, and to weigh what it will ask of my character, my household and my gifts. Give me honest counsellors and the humility to hear them. Direct my steps as I plan, and let Your peace be the umpire in my heart. Then give me courage to own the decision before You, and to do whatever I choose in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to You through Him. Amen.
Truth received brings freedom. Truth believed establishes the heart.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. · Illustrations using first names only are composites unless stated otherwise.