A Dei Hire

INTRODUCTION

I spent the first 20 years of my career in Human Resources. At one point, I was working for a major consulting firm. We were looking for consultants in my practice area who were multi-lingual with strong international negotiation skills.

I came across the resume of a young man that was PRETTY impressive. He'd secured a Masters Degree in Organizational Psychology from a prominent HBCU and claimed he spoke SIX languages.

I was excited to meet this young man fresh out of grad school. Impressed with his credentials, I had done my homework. I wanted to impress him too! So I began our interview in French. "Moi a propos de toi?" I watched his confident smile TRANSFORM into sheer panic.

"Sorry," he stammered, "my French is a bit rusty today."

When I switched to Spanish, "yo sobre ti," he SUDDENLY developed an urgent need to use the restroom! He excused himself and upon his return, he CONFESSED that his language fluency consisted of knowing how to order his favorite drink in different countries. And his international negotiation skills? Haggling with street vendors while on vacation!

So I asked him, "WHY did you inflate your skills and experience so drastically?" He looked me square in the eye and said, "Well, the posting said 'must be creative and have excellent story-telling skills'... I just provided you an EXAMPLE of both of those."

He had me there!

In this hyper-competitive world, the resume has become our professional identity card. We meticulously craft these documents — highlighting our achievements, strategically MINIMIZING our failures, and positioning ourselves to appear IMPRESSIVE. Some of us have spent HUNDREDS of dollars on resume writers, THOUSANDS of dollars on degrees and COUNTLESS hours learning our trade. We have climbed corporate ladders, broke through glass ceilings, and accumulated the titles and achievements society celebrates.

We understand the POWER of credentials. One well-crafted document can OPEN DOORS that generations before us found FIRMLY CLOSED. For many in our community, these hard-earned credentials represent not just personal achievement but the COLLECTIVE PROGRESS of a people who were once DENIED the right to read, let alone earn advanced degrees or professional accolades. In this fiercely competitive landscape, the résumé has become our professional credential. Even the most inexperienced, inept, ignorant, infantile and insufferable can — appropriate others accomplishments and scapegoat their short comings to position themselves useful. I mean take a look up the street at the whitest house, but I digress.

Some of us have spent THOUSANDS of dollars on degrees and COUNTLESS hours learning our trade. We have climbed corporate ladders, broke through glass ceilings, and accumulated the titles and achievements society celebrates.

We understand the POWER of real, true, earned credentials. One well crafted document can OPEN DOORS that generations before us found FIRMLY AND SYSTEMATICALLY CLOSED. For many in our community, these hard-earned qualifications represent not just a personal achievement but the COLLECTIVE PROGRSS of a people who were once DENIED the right to read, let alone earn advanced degrees or professional accolades.

We stand on the SHOULDERS of ancestors who through their literal BLOOD, SWEAT, and TEARS founded HBCUs so that we might earn these advanced degrees. Mary McCloud Bethune who founded Bethune Cookman and Elizabeth Evelyn Wright who founded Voorhees University. Their sacrifice and their vision — currently being threatened by the talking head occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Our ancestors created educational sanctuaries where our intellect and creativity could FLOURISH despite a society determined to limit our potential.

But what happens, family? WHAT HAPPENS when God's divine purposes require someone WITHOUT impressive credentials? WHAT HAPPENS when deliverance manifests NOT through the perceived powerful, the titled, or the conventionally qualified? WHAT HAPPENS when instead liberation comes through the seemingly ORDINARY, the OVERLOOKED, and the UNDERESTIMATED?

THIS was precisely Jael's reality! No royal lineage! No political appointment! No political office! No military commission! Just a woman LIVING IN A TENT who became, through ONE DECISIVE MOMENT, the unlikely hero who liberated Israel from TWENTY YEARS of brutal oppression. Her story FUNDAMENTALLY CHALLENGES our entrenched assumptions about who possesses the capacity to accomplish divine purpose. Her story CHALLENGES everything we have been taught about WHO is equipped to get the job done.

In a culture OBSESSED with credentials and achievements, what has Jael shown us is needed for our spiritual resumes? Well I’m going to give you three and leave you BE. The first thing Jael shows us is needed for our spiritual resume is

Point 1: PURPOSEFUL POSITIONING

It’s right here in verse 17: "Sisera (SAY SA RA), meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite."

WHO WAS JAEL? Not an Israelite princess! Not a prophet like Deborah! Not a military commander like Barak! Scripture introduces her SIMPLY as "the wife of Heber the Kenite."