Episode 148
148 - Your Occupation Is Not a Waiting Room for God
If you look at the famous names of the Bible and ask what they did for a living when God called them, the answer is almost never: official religious work. Fishermen, tentmakers, tax collectors, seamstresses, shepherds, government administrators, an innkeeper, a foreign field laborer, a nameless slave girl. This episode asks what that overwhelming pattern means for ordinary people today.
The List of Ordinary Callings
Peter, Andrew, James, and John were fishing. Paul was building tents — a trade he kept alongside his missionary work. Matthew was collecting taxes for the Roman occupation when Jesus came directly to his office and said, come now. Lydia sold purple cloth and opened her home as a church the day she believed. Dorcas was sewing clothes for widows, and her community grieved her so deeply that Peter raised her from the dead.
Shepherds, Government Workers, and Craftspeople
David was watching his father's sheep when Samuel came to anoint him. Amos was a shepherd and fig farmer who said plainly: I had no credentials, God grabbed me out of the field. Nehemiah was a royal cupbearer. Daniel administered a pagan empire. Joseph became second-in-command of Egypt. Esther was a Persian queen. These weren't people operating outside the system — God used them right where they were.
Ruth, Rahab, and the Woman at the Well
Ruth was a foreign-born immigrant doing field agriculture because she had nothing to eat. Rahab — innkeeper, possibly prostitute, possibly both — hid the Israelite spies and shows up in the genealogy of Jesus. The Samaritan woman at the well, with five ex-husbands and a reputation, met Jesus at noon and became the first evangelist to her entire town, with no preparation and no credentials whatsoever.
How Few Official Religious Workers There Actually Were
Out of twelve tribes of Israel, one — the Levites, and specifically the descendants of Aaron — had priestly duties. That's a small fraction of the total population with any official religious role. But before the Levitical system was even established, God told the whole nation at Sinai: you will be a kingdom of priests. Every person. That was always the design.
What 1 Peter 2:9 Means for Regular People
In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter writes to ordinary, scattered believers — not leaders of any kind — and says: you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. In Christ, the original design is restored. Everybody. The work of the gospel travels through farm fields, workshops, government offices, homes, and ordinary Tuesdays. Ordinary life is not a waiting room while someone else does the real work.
Closing
You don't need a title. You don't need credentials. That servant girl in Naaman's household didn't even have a name — and her testimony made it into the eternal record. The job you have, the neighborhood you live in, the conversations you have on a regular Tuesday: that is exactly where God's work in the world happens.Jill’s Links
https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod
Email the podcast at jill@startwithsmallsteps.com
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