When Your Work is Powered by Self and Not God

“And David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So, I shall escape out of his hand.” ‭‭I Samuel 27:1 NKJV‬‬

David, who had earlier been anointed as the soon-to-be king of Israel, started to think that the call upon his life would be cut short because of one man.

And that thought led him to make a decision that he would later regret. He made a decision that was contrary to who he was. David always went after challenges, but for this one, he kept running. Why?

David’s focus had shifted from trust in God to trust in himself. In the anchor scripture, you’ll realise that he didn’t do his usual practice of going to God to inquire. Instead, he followed a thought in his heart.

You don’t need to forget God or leave the Christian faith before losing trust in God. You only need to change your focus to what you can do for yourself. When you do this, every decision you make afterwards will be powered by your strength and not God’s strength.

How can we ensure we are not driven by self as we work?

David didn’t run to Ziklag to rest. He also went there to serve, as he always did. And it is safe to say that in God’s will, David was where God needed him to be so he could learn something.

Before chapter 27, David had made several decisions on his own as he ran from Saul for his life. So, following his instinct at this point was already a learned behaviour.

Your work can be noble, good, impactful, and still be driven by self. To identify this, simply assess how you’ve been making previous decisions up to that very point.

If it has always been “I will,” without any record of you asking the Holy Spirit amidst all the decision-making, then it’s time to ask Him.

This doesn’t mean what you do is outside of God’s will. It just means it is fueled by alternative energy.

To get back on track, we must go back to God and ask for a redirection. A new direction will help us make better decisions and ensure we don’t just work from our strengths because doing that will limit our results.

“I choose to trust God with every decision I want to make.”

Going to God every time doesn’t mean we are brainless. It’s an acknowledgement of trust in Him. We are still the ones who will push ourselves to move forward, but we know that we are open to divine insights from God, not just human wisdom.