PRÉCIS ON FINDING THE ZONE: THE JOY OF WORKING IN YOUR CALLING

SCRIPTURE. “For you shall eat [the fruit] of the labor of your hands; happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) shall you be, and it shall be well with you.” – PSALM 128:2, AMPC

KEY TERM: “WELL.” ‘Towb’ [טוֹב]: “‘To be good’ in the widest sense of the word; to be beautiful, best, better, bountiful, cheerful, at ease; to be in [God’s] favour; prosperity, wealth, welfare; pleasant to the sight [of the Lord]; a sweet, agreeable scent or taste; ‘happiness or joy in one’s journey;’ the basis for the term ‘swell’ popular in America generations ago.”

QUOTATION. “‘Your New Life is going to cost you your old one.’ It’s going to cost you your comfort zone and your sense of direction. It’s going to cost you relationships and friends. It’s going to cost you being liked and understood. It doesn’t matter. The people who are meant for you are going to meet you on the Other Side. You’re going to build a ‘New Comfort Zone’ around the things that actually move you forward. Instead of being liked, you’re going to be loved. Instead of being understood, you’re going to be seen. All you’re going to lose is what was built for a person you no longer are.” ― BRIANNA WIEST, The Mountain is You, 2020; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands.’ – Thou shalt enjoy the avails of thy labor; thou shalt be secure in thy rights. See the notes at Isaiah 3:10. This is a General Promise respecting the prosperity which [True] Religion affords. If all people were truly religious, this would be Universal, so far as man is concerned.

Property would be secure; and, except so far as abundant harvests might be prevented by the direct Providence of God – by blight, and mildew, and storms, and drought – all people would enjoy undisturbed the avails of their labor. Slavery, whereby one man is compelled to labor for another, would come to an end; everyone who is now a slave would ‘eat the labor of his own hands;’ and property would no more be swept away by war or become the prey of robbers and freebooters. Religion, if it prevailed universally, would produce Universal Security in our rights.

‘Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.’ – Literally, ‘Happy thou, and well with thee.’ That is, Happiness and Security would be the consequence of True Religion.” – ALBERT BARNES, Notes on the Old and New Testament, 1834; edited

DK’S TAKE. Just a couple of brief points taken from this wonderful package of wisdom for Living Your Utmost for His Highest, as OSWALD CHAMBERS so beautifully put it.

• ONE: ‘God loves sold out risk takers’ – Followers who will leave their nets and follow Him to the ends of the earth if necessary.

• TWO: ‘Doing so will cost you everything’ – What you think is security, friends, popularity, and the approval of the World Spirit.

• THREE: ‘What you gain is immeasurable!’ –  True Freedom, an exhilarating desire to work in ‘Your Zone’ or Calling. And yes, a New Security that brings you all that you need in this life to survive and succeed.

CODA. What we are talking about here is what OS GUINESS called in his now-classic work, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose for Your Life  (2003). He wisely states: “No idea short of God’s Call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose and fulfillment.”

He Elaborates. “We are not wise enough, pure enough, or strong enough to aim and sustain such a single motive over a lifetime. That way lies fanaticism or failure. But if the single motive is the Master Motivation of God’s Calling, the answer is ‘Yes!’ In any and all situations, both today and tomorrow’s tomorrow, God’s Call to us is the unchanging and ultimate Whence, What, Why, and Whither of our lives. Calling is a ‘Yes’ to God that carries a ‘No’ to the chaos of modern demands. Calling is the key to tracing the story line of our lives and unriddling the meaning of our existence in a chaotic world.”

CODICIL. Beloved, you know me well enough by now to appreciate that it took me the loss of nearly everything earthly to discover the most thrilling, fruitful and joyous ride of my entire life. Indeed, ‘The Digital Circuit Ride!’ It was not easy getting here, but once having arrived, I would not trade it for my very life.

Such a Ride awaits us all in these Last Days my friends. All it takes is a single response to The King when He inquires of us if we are truly willing to truly follow so close after Him, that the dust from His sandals falls upon our tunics:

“Yes, Lord! Here am I. Send me!”

The very Word of the Lord to His Remnant, thanks be to God!