OPENING PRAYER
Father, we spend most of our waking hours at work, and most of us have never been sure what You think of it. Some of us feel we missed the life You had for us. Some of us are just turning up. Some of us are near the end and afraid of who we’ll be without the role. Speak into all of it. Show us that You are not finished with any of us. Amen.

ICE BREAKER

• What did you want to be when you were ten? How close did you get?

• Who is someone you’ve watched do ordinary work faithfully for a long time?

SCRIPTURE READING

Read Proverbs 3:5-6.

Then Romans 11:29 — the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

God does not change His mind about the people He calls, and the path there is His to straighten, not ours to force.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Before Sunday, what did “calling” mean to you — something a few people have, or something everyone has?
   

2. Mr Tan’s calling was nearly taken from him before it began, and he gave forty years to it anyway. What does that say about God’s timetable compared to ours?
   

3. Was there a stretch in your own work where the sense of purpose went quiet and you were just turning up? What did you do with it?
   

4. Say someone here took their job for the hours or the pay. It isn’t a calling and they can’t pretend otherwise. What would you want them to hear?
   

5. He described obstacles standing between him and what God had called him to — and prayer opening a way. Where have you had to trust God with something you couldn’t solve yourself?
   

6. “Do not lean on your own understanding.” What does leaning on your own understanding actually look like in your work? And what do we say to someone who has prayed for years and the obstacle is still there?

PERSONAL REFLECTION

• What part of my week feels too ordinary to matter to God? What if it is exactly where He has placed me?

• What have I been waiting for so long that I have quietly stopped expecting it?

• What is the obstacle in front of me that I have not actually prayed about?

• What am I trying to control because I do not trust how He might handle it?

• Which area of my life have I never thought to pray about, because I assumed it was mine to manage?

PRACTICAL APPLICATION FOR THE WEEK

Choose one.

Ask an older believer. Find someone in the church who has finished or nearly finished their working life, and ask them what they learned. Listen properly.

Name your field. Write down where God has placed you right now — your role, your team, your household — and ask Him what faithfulness looks like there this week.

Speak to someone who feels stuck. Find the person in your life who thinks they’ve missed it, and tell them otherwise.

CLOSING PRAYER
Lord, thank You that Your gifts and calling are irrevocable, that You do not change Your mind about the people You have called. Teach us to trust You with all our hearts rather than lean on our own understanding, especially where the way forward is blocked. For those who feel they have missed it, give hope. For those who are tired, give strength to stay. Make us faithful where You have put us. Amen.