I recently applied for a job with the Sydney Morning Herald. The position was for an editorial traineeship … or in the more traditional sense, a cadetship. Needless to say, I didn’t get the job, which required me to do an exam after successfully getting through the preliminary eliminations based on a short video and a letter. As I sat there doing the exam I knew that I was utterly and completely out of my depth, I didn’t know the answers to the questions I was facing, while the people around me scribbled frantically.
It’s not a good feeling, knowing you’re going to fail and having no way of stopping yourself. I was disappointed, but it made me realise that God has a reason for everything, and that everything is because God ordained it so. I wasn’t meant to get that job. It also made me realise that life is often like that exam. We sometimes find ourselves hopelessly misplaced, directionless and seeking answers. The difference is that in life, we have the person who wrote the test by our side and he is willing to give us the answers to the questions that matter. We just have to ask. Unfortunately, that’s often where we go wrong … we forget to ask. God says in Jeremiah. “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” However he also says that we must call upon him and seek him, we must ask him in order for him to listen. So if you feel like you’re sitting an exam that you don’t know the answers to, then try asking God. Because the chances are he knows the answers … but he isn’t going to help you unless you ask.
Matt Whiteley
