The personnel director in a successful company is a very key position. One of his/her functions is to place the right person in the right job. The personnel director must endeavor to know the skills, abilities and personal characteristics needed to perform a job and must find the person with those qualities to place in the position. A person who is placed in a job that matches his interests and abilities will be a happy, successful and profitable employee.

Several months ago a young man came to my office who seemed to be struggling with the idea of consecrating his life to God. As we talked about this he began to cry. He told me that he was afraid that if he really turned his life over to God that God would call him to be a missionary. He had seen some missionaries struggle and wanted no part of it. I tried to convince him that God was a "Great Personnel Director." God will not call persons to positions where they would not fit or be happy. I told him that I believe that if God called him to be a missionary he would be happy and excited about it. On the other hand if God knew that a person would be miserable as a missionary God would never call that person to be a missionary. Personnel directors of companies often make big mistakes but God never makes a mistake. The "Great Personnel Director" is far superior to earthly personnel directors in many ways.

The "Great Personnel Director" sees men as they will become and not as they are. During the time of the judges the children of Israel did evil and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years. The Lord allowed Israel to be so impoverished that they finally cried out to the Lord. Israel needed someone to deliver them from Midian. The job description might have read as follows: "Needed: Man of God to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Midianites." The Israelites probably didn't know what kind of qualities the man needed but "The Great Personnel Director" did. Even the chosen man didn't know he had the qualities. Israel didn't know where to go to find such a man but God did. God found him in an unlikely place by a winepress threshing wheat. The angel of the Lord addressed him, "Thou mighty man of valour." We would have observed a man hiding from the Midianites, but God could see a man of valour daring enough to lead a band of 300 men armed with pitchers, candles and trumpets against a large army described as being "like grasshoppers for multitude." God could visualize the leadership qualities which enabled Gideon to courageously lead these few men to tremendous victory.

The "Great Personnel Director" has the ability to see the qualities inside a man and not just the externals. When God needed a replacement for King Saul of Israel He sent Samuel to anoint one of Jesse's sons. The Lord did not choose any of the sons presented before Samuel. I am not sure what external characteristics these boys had but the Lord said, "Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for the Lord looketh on the heart" I Sam. 16:7. The "Great Personnel Director" sees more than looks, height, physical strength, experience, talent, education or any other quality measured by man. The Lord sees the thoughts and motives of the heart of man. Apparently Jesse didn't even consider David as a candidate but the Lord saw David as a man after his own heart. Men may not even consider you to perform a particular function in the body of Christ but God sees your heart.

The "Great Personnel Director" can suddenly promote a person to a new position far above his present situation. Joseph was in prison for years because of a false accusation. He did get some exposure after interpreting the chief butler's dream although he was forgotten for two years until Pharaoh dreamed some dreams for which he could find no interpreter. The butler remembered Joseph who was brought hastily out of the dungeon, interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, and appointed second in command to Pharaoh. In one day Joseph went from a prisoner to the second highest ranking government ruler in Egypt! As the expression goes the promotion "was fast enough to make your head swim." Is it possible that you feel you have been stuck in the same condition for years and are totally unaware that the "Great Personnel Director" has a move for you just around the corner? "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" Ps. 75:6, 7. He does it when the time is right. Joseph's promotion was ordered of the Lord in order to preserve the nation of Israel.

The "Great Personnel Director" can completely change a man's direction. Saul of Tarsus was a zealous Pharisee educated by Gamaliel. Today we might refer to him as "upwardly mobile." Perhaps he was being groomed to be a ruler of the Sanhedrin. He was intent on destroying Christianity until one day on the road to Damascus, Jesus completely changed his direction. The disciples were so afraid of thim they had trouble believing that he had become a Christian. The one who was perhaps most intent on stopping Christianity became the greatest evangelist of Christianity the world has ever known. If God can take a persecutor and a blasphemer and make him to be an apostle it's possible the "Great Personnel Director" has a great career change in store for you. In Jesus' day men left their fishing boats and tax collection tables to follow him. At Christian Life College we have a number of secular college graduates who are now preparing for the ministry. Out of every walk of life the Lord of Harvest wants to send laborers

Often the "Great Personnel Director" utilizes a person's background. It is interesting that the Holy Ghost separated two men for missionary work who had been raised in Gentile areas. Barnabas was from the country of Cyprus and Saul was from Tarsus a city in Cilicia, Acts 4:36, Acts 21:39. Where did they go on the first missionary journey? They sailed to Cyprus, Acts 13:4. Where did Paul start his second missionary journey? He went through Syria and Cilicia, Acts 15:41. Some of our most successful missionaries today are those laboring in countries of their origins. The "Great Personnel Director" knows what He is doing.

The "Great Personnel Director" had you in mind before you were born. God said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations, Jer. 1:5. Cyrus was called by name over 150 years before he gave charge to rebuild the temple, Isa. 44:28-45:4; II Chron. 36:22, 23; Ezra 1;1-4. Before John the Baptist was born the Lord told his father that he would be great in the sight of the Lord, Lk. 1:13-17. From the time a tiny sperm weighing about five-billionth of a gram combined with an egg cell weighing about one-millionth of a gram all your physical characteristics were was genetically coded. From that small beginning your skeletal, digestive, respiratory, circulatory, reproductive, and nervous systems were planned. If God had a plan for your eyes, ears, nose, hands, feet, stomach, liver and every other part of your body then He must also have a plan for your purpose in life. He knows all your physical, mental, and emotional characteristics and has a specific opening where you will be happy, successful and fruitful. I trust that you are in that position. If not, the "Great Personnel Director" knows where you are whether it be in prison, threshing wheat, or tending sheep. Prepare yourself but wait patiently for the "Great Personnel Director" to reveal the place where you can minister most effectively.

In all your ways acknowledge Him and He (the "Great Personnel Director") shall direct your path, Prov. 3:6.