The Golden Handcuffs

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Proverbs 23:7 states:

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”

— Proverbs 23:7a (NKJV)

In the Exodus, we learn the story of how God’s chosen people were freed from their slavery in Egypt through the faithful servanthood of Moses. Be sure to dive into this more on your own.

Now before Moses’ servanthood really begins, the original Pharaoh that had appointed Joseph to the seat at his right hand passed away, but during Joseph’s tenure in Egypt, he welcomed his father Jacob and his entire house into Egypt before he himself passed. Many years later, a new Pharaoh who did not know the story of Joseph and how Egypt became a growing haven for the people of Israel, surveyed his land one day and noted that a large percentage of his nation was Jewish and that they were flourishing as a people. They had all types of businesses and their children were growing exceedingly. So the Pharaoh told his council:

“And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” — Exodus 1: 9-10 (ESV)

So due to the Pharaoh’s fear that the Jewish people in his nation were not actually loyal members of the nation and he didn’t want them to fight against them in war, through “dealing with them shrewdly”, he got rid of their businesses and made them work for him. He placed taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens, so that he could break their spirit and make it clear to them that he is the king. But with every lash of a whip and every hateful word spoken, the children of Israel continued to grow at an exceeding rate, and the king continued to remain in fear that he couldn’t stop them. So he went to the Israel midwives and ordered for all sons to be killed upon birth. However, this too was unsuccessful but the Pharaoh continued trying.

Moses was born during this time and was hidden for 3 months. When they could no longer hide him, they placed him into a basket in the river, and he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh and she had compassion on him and made him her own son.

Now there are a lot more details to the story, but one day when Moses was tending to his wife’s fathers flocks, God appeared to him as a burning bush. When Moses went to go check it out, God told him the plan he had for him to rescue his people from Egypt. So when Moses and Aaron rescued the Jewish people from Egypt, the people were beyond happy! They had just been rescued from their captors and were no longer going to be beaten and whipped each day; but after 3 days of no water, they complained to no end. They were getting upset with Moses and saying things like:

“and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” — Exodus 16:3 (ESV)

And they had completely forgotten all the miraculous things God just did for them, how he kept them from being beaten and punished day after day, and how hard their labor was. The only thing they could think about at that time was the fact that all of it was worth it, when they knew when their next meal was coming.

Today, this is called the Golden Handcuffs.

The Golden Handcuffs happen when an employee is bound to their job. It happens when they feel helpless on their own and will subject themselves to anything their employer wants to put them through simply for the price of predictability. The worst part about this is that in America, if we could track this, I’m confident that over 75% of jobs today fit into this category — and I only go that low because there are individuals who truly love what they do and have viewed the work they’re doing as a partnership vs being subject to their employer.

So these handcuffs act as a prison where people know exactly how much they’re going to be paid, exactly when they’re going to be paid, how much real work they’ll have to do to make that money, and exactly what they’re going to do with the money once they have it. They have mistaken where their real security lies at a fundamental level. They think that the predictability of a salary is worth being abused, and they think that God won’t protect them. And this can be said because the alternative would be to leave your salary; but most would never do this unless there was something else to “protect” us first. So it’s specifically this fact that is the reason they couldn’t disassociate their employer as their provider versus God being their provider as He led them through the wilderness, that God didn’t deliver that generation to the land of milk and honey because He needed the mindset that something else could be His creation’s provider to completely die out first.

So as a Godly Steward, choosing to work for someone else is perfectly fine, but your intention cannot be to do so because you think it would be too risky to rely on God to provide for your family. The job you landed itself is God providing for your family, but should that job start to make you choose between God and the world, if you choose to stay at that job, you will be choosing the golden handcuffs, and the increase in God will be far from you.

Important things to note from this.

1. Simply trust God. He will make a way that is prosperous and plentiful.
2. The beginning of trusting the Lord is the easiest part. The next day will be when the trust actually begins, and this will take place each day for the rest of your life. You can either choose to trust God and the talents he’s blessed you with, or you can suppress those talents and trust your employer as your God, because you believe they can provide for you in a more comfortable manner than God can. The walk won’t be easy, but we are strongest in our weakness with God.
3. When the time in your life comes to start your own business, God will give you the idea. When He does, it’s your job to act immediately, otherwise you risk telling God that you’ll get to it on your own time.
4. You are what you think. Think greater – think better for you and your future family – and give yourself a fighting chance. God says all things are possible through Him. If you can believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins, then I know you can believe He will make a way.
5. Finally, you don’t need to know everything to be chosen or to get started. Moses asked God repeatedly why he was the person for the job because he believed he wasn’t qualified – but God had already taken care of his worries and provided him with his brother Aaron as help on the journey. Don’t lean on this, but do find comfort in the fact that God has already accounted for your stupid.

Remember, when we seek His kingdom, we can ask for anything that our hearts desire because what we desire is pleasing to Him. If we desire money to make our belly full, we’ve missed the point.

Love and appreciate you all!

May God Bless you and yours.

EJM