The Move
You are staring out of the window on the morning commute, looking at your schedule for the day, and wondering if any of it actually matters in the grand scheme of things.
In Christian circles, we often talk about “calling” as if it is a booming voice directing us to a dramatic, sacrificial life. Meanwhile, in the real world, most of our major life decisions feel decidedly unspiritual.
- We relocate to secure a place in a better school catchment area.
- We take a lateral career move because the pension scheme is better.
- We network with people we do not entirely agree with because it is commercially strategic. (*cringe*)
At the end of 2023, I found myself in a similar place. I had handed in my notice, sensing a profound prompting that it was the right time to leave my current employment. I had absolutely no idea what was coming next. It was simply a step of faith for both my wife and me, letting peace, and the counsel of those around us, be our guide.
With just three weeks to go before my final day, a text message arrived. It was an invitation to cover for an absent teacher. The catch was that it meant leaving the beautiful South Coast of Devon UK and relocating to the north of England (also beautiful in its own way!).
In many ways, while I always look to see God’s hand at work, it felt like a purely practical, logistical career decision. Logistically it wasn’t an amazing choice as I had to stay in our my in-laws’ spare room for what turned out to be 18 months. Love ’em to bits but not an ideal situation for any of us!
But the point is, that temporary cover was a catalyst for a life upheaval.
It is easy to look at our pragmatic, spreadsheets-and-mortgages lives and worry that we have somehow sidestepped the grand adventure God had planned for us.
A closer look at one of the more obscure characters of the Old Testament suggests something entirely different:
Often, your most calculated, practical logistics are exactly what God is using to set the stage for something historic.
A Biblical Lateral Career Move: The Pragmatic Entrepreneur of Judges 4
If you read Judges 4, you will briefly meet a man named Heber the Kenite. The Israelites were in a state of national crisis. For twenty years, they had been brutally oppressed by a Canaanite king named Jabin and his ruthless military commander, Sisera. The Canaanite dominance was built on terrifying military technology: nine hundred iron chariots that dominated the flat plains.
The situation was so desperate that God raised up a prophetess named Deborah and a general named Barak to lead an unlikely, under-equipped Israelite rebellion.
And buried in the text of this story we meet, Heber, a ‘Kenite’ usually glossed over in sermons and Sunday schools. The Kenites were traditionally allied with Israel. But Heber made a controversial decision to relocate. The text gives us the exact geographical logistics:
“Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.” (Judges 4:11 NIVUK)
Heber had left the Kenites. For some reason that grabbed my attention.
Why would he leave his family and pitch his tent by a prominent landmark near a major trade route? The historical clues point to a classic business move, further confirmed by his subsequent networking:
“…there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.” (Judges 4:17 NIVUK)
I’m told (by Google, obviously) that the name “Kenite” has linguistic roots linked to metalworking. It’s not stretching the narrative to assume this particular Kenite did work with metal, as we will see from some of the items in his tent.
But first, note that King Jabin (the Canaanite ruler brutally oppressing the Israelites) built his military dominance on 900 iron chariots. Is it possible that Heber essentially moved his family to the ancient equivalent of a booming tech hub to secure highly lucrative government contracts?
We know he was successful because of the details hidden in the Song of Deborah in the following chapter. When his wife Jael later entertains a guest, the text highlights the sheer wealth and professional standing of their household:
“He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk. Her hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer.” (Judges 5:25-26 NIVUK)
Heber had acquired the luxury goods of the Canaanite elite (“a bowl fit for nobles”) and possessed the heavy-duty artisan tools of a master contractor (“the workman’s hammer”).
He thought he was just making a smart lateral move. He found a neutral location, secured a lucrative market, and built a comfortable life for his family.
The Illusion of the Secular Strategy
Had Heber spent years under that tree at Zaanannim congratulating himself on his political savvy and business acumen? He had after all built a safe, neutral bubble in a volatile world.
But God had other, deeper plans.
When the Israelite army finally clashed with the Canaanites at the River Kishon, God intervened. A sudden torrential downpour turned the battlefield into a swamp. Sisera’s terrifying iron chariots were instantly bogged down in the mud, rendering his military advantage completely useless.
The Canaanite army was routed, and Commander Sisera was forced to flee on foot. Exhausted and running for his life, he spotted the landmark tree and remembered the business treaty with Heber’s successful household:
“Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite…” (Judges 4:17 NIVUK)
He stepped into the tent expecting diplomatic immunity. Instead, he walked precisely into the trap God had been setting for years.
Heber provided the logistical framework, but it was his wife, Jael, who possessed the clarity and bravery to act.
She did not need an army.
She took the very tools of her husband’s commercial success (the high-status bowl to lower the commander’s guard, and the heavy workman’s hammer from the business) to deliver a definitive victory for Israel, just as the prophetess Deborah had foretold.
“But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.” (Judges 4:21 NIVUK)
Am I Heber?
Sometimes we can divide our lives into the “spiritual” and the “practical”. We think our church involvement is the spiritual part, while our career moves, house purchases, and professional networking are just the practical necessity of paying the bills.
I think Heber’s story dismantles that divide. It tells us that God is the master of repurposing our logistics.
When my wife Andrea and I look at our own recent relocation, something about this story rings true. That initial temporary cover in the North of England led to further work. And after an excruciating 18-month separation, we finally sold our house in Devon, and Andrea was able to join me (thank you, Lord). We still had to live with family for a while but we have now finally bought a new home and are settling into a church that our adult kids were already part of.
I sense we have been divinely relocated for a purpose we have not yet fully seen. So I’m choosing to see this story as prophetic for us as a couple. The logistics of the move might have been driven by the tools of my trade at the time, but I believe God uses the practical moves of one partner to position the other for extraordinary impact.
Re-evaluating Your Logistics
We tend to divide our lives into the “spiritual” and the “practical”. We think our church involvement is the spiritual part, while our career moves, house purchases, and professional networking are just the practical necessity of paying the bills.
Heber’s story dismantles that divide. It tells us that God is the master of repurposing our logistics.
- That job you took just because the hours suited your family better.
- That neighbourhood you moved into purely because the property prices made sense.
- Those professional skills you have spent a decade honing in a distinctly secular environmen.
You might think you are just managing a career, but you might actually be setting the stage. God routinely uses our most ordinary, self-interested decisions to place us (or our families) in the exact geographical and professional locations required for His purposes.
Four Ways to Repurpose Your Professional Life
If you want to stop feeling like your 9-to-5 life is a spiritual waiting room, it is time to look at your practical logistics through a different lens. Here is how to start:
1. Map your “Zaanannim”
Acknowledge where you are right now. Take a piece of paper and write down your current practical logistics. Note your office location, your neighbourhood, and your kids’ school gates. Stop apologising for the practical decisions that brought you there. Acknowledge that God has allowed you to pitch your tent exactly there for a reason, even if that reason is not yet visible.
2. Audit your “workman’s hammer”
What are the professional skills you use to pay the bills? Project management, cleaning, financial forecasting, cooking, corporate communications, or contract negotiation? Stop viewing them as purely secular tools. They are assets for the Kingdom. Dedicate them to God today so they are ready to be picked up when a moment of crisis or opportunity requires them.
3. Look for the hidden “alliances”
Who are you networking with? Heber had an alliance with King Jabin. You might be interacting daily with clients or colleagues who share none of your values. Do not assume you are compromising just by being in the room. You might be the person God is keeping in place for a future intervention, a moment of grace, or a crucial shift in workplace culture. Yes, your presence can make a difference to the atmosphere in the room.
4. Prepare for the divine interruption
Sisera arrived exhausted, desperate, and completely unannounced.
The Kingdom of God rarely sends a calendar invite.
Be spiritually awake enough in your daily routine to recognise when a standard Tuesday afternoon suddenly turns into a divine appointment. When the moment walks through your door, have the moral clarity of Jael to act.
5. Look for the shared calling
If you are married, pay close attention to how your career moves impact your spouse. Do not assume a relocation is just about your paycheck. Your lateral career move might actually be the logistical setup for your partner’s greatest season of kingdom impact. Pray about it together.
6. Let peace lead your logistics
When I quit my job, I had no backup plan, only peace. Sometimes God asks you to leave a space before He reveals the destination. Do not be afraid to step out in faith. The text message that changes everything might only arrive three weeks before your deadline.
Your current position is not a compromise. It is a setup. Be ready.
Who is Jon Petts? Find out here...