Every wonder what it’s like being in the zone? Does it mean
everything is sunshine and lollypops? Or do things just kind of work out? I
think of Joshua leading the people into “The Promised Land” after 40 years in
the wilderness when he was part of a scouting group that reported what they
saw. 10 saw giants and danger, 2 saw a land flowing with milk and honey. As we
know from the story the 10 won out and thus started the wandering.
Joshua 1:7 reminds the people how to act:
Only be
thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to
all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the
right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.
Never once were they told it would be easy but to be brave
in the face of danger. From day one they were in the zone with God, but they
still had to face danger and fight. Being in the zone with God is different
than what man thinks being in the zone should be. For some reason we tend to
think being in the zone is being on easy street.
I think a good analogy to being in the zone with God is
being in the zone on a football field. At the snap of the ball suddenly a calm
environment becomes chaos. People are crashing into each other, scrambling to
find clear space and chasing a ball around. When say the quarterback is in the
zone does not mean the chaos stops, but rather he learns to work within it. The
zone becomes an awareness of the chaos and being able to work within it to
produce the desired results.
This is how it is in the world, when we are in the zone with
God we work within the chaos and produce miraculous results. God’s glory shines
through when things are tough and we succeed, otherwise the glory could be
placed elsewhere. Hence why the most unlikely characters are our heroes. Think
about it, Moses was a murderer, David was the wimpy son, Jonah was
argumentative and Jesus was a back woods carpenter yet through all the adversity
they remained in the zone (for the most) and served God.
So stop the pity party, focus on God, roll up your sleeves
and get into the zone.