choosing a career

⁵Have confidence in the Lord with all your heart, and do not depend upon your own prudence. ⁶In all your ways, consider him, and he himself will direct your steps.

¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think over you, says the Lord: thoughts of peace and not of affliction, so that I may give you patience and an end. ¹²And you shall call upon me, and you shall go forth. And you shall pray to me, and I will heed you. ¹³You shall seek me. And you will find me, when you have sought me with your whole heart. ¹⁴And I will be found by you, says the Lord. And I will lead you back from your captivity. And I will gather you from all the nations and all the places, to which I have expelled you, says the Lord. And I will return you from the place to which I sent you into captivity.

⁸I will give you understanding, and I will instruct you in this way, in which you will walk. I will fix my eyes upon you.

³Open your works to the Lord, and your intentions will be set in order.

²¹There are many intentions in the heart of a man. But the will of the Lord shall stand firm.

⁶In all your ways, consider him, and he himself will direct your steps.

⁴Delight in the Lord, and he will grant to you the petitions of your heart.

²⁷Prepare your outdoor work, and diligently cultivate your field, so that afterward, you may build your house.

⁸The book of this law shall not depart from your mouth. Instead, you shall meditate upon it, day and night, so that you may observe and do all the things that are written in it. Then you shall direct your way and understand it.

²⁷John responded and said: “A man is not able to receive anything, unless it has been given to him from heaven.

⁷Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, for the Lord will be his confidence.

¹James, servant of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes of the dispersion, greetings. ²My brothers, when you have fallen into various trials, consider everything a joy, ³knowing that the proving of your faith exercises patience, ⁴and patience brings a work to perfection, so that you may be perfect and whole, deficient in nothing. ⁵But if anyone among you is in need of wisdom, let him petition God, who gives abundantly to all without reproach, and it shall be given to him. ⁶But he should ask with faith, doubting nothing. For he who doubts is like a wave on the ocean, which is moved about by the wind and carried away;

¹⁰Whatever your hand is able to do, do it earnestly. For neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge will exist in death, toward which you are hurrying.

⁸For the exercise of the body is somewhat useful. But piety is useful in all things, holding the promise of life, in the present and in the future.

¹⁶A man’s gift expands his way and makes space for him before leaders.

¹Blessed is the man who has not followed the counsel of the impious, and has not remained in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the chair of pestilence. ²But his will is with the law of the Lord, and he will meditate on his law, day and night.