Have you ever been in a situation where you hated your job? I mean really hated it? One where you would rather do anything than to be there? That has got to be one of the most difficult situations in which to find oneself. How is it possible to do one’s best, or to give a good day’s labor for a good day’s pay in that situation?

That has to be one of the most difficult circumstances in which to find oneself in life, and especially if there is just no alternative to working in that setting. I still remember my dad telling of how he wanted to join his brothers in going off to war in the 1940’s. He had an indispensable job making military supplies in the factory and they refused to let him join the military or even to quit his job. He hated it! He quit several times, but no one else would hire him and he had to return again and again to the same place and do the work.

After the war was over he continued to work at the same factory for another twenty-five years because it was, after all, a good job and with great benefits—he couldn’t have found a better job anywhere. What changed? His attitude changed because he no longer felt like the only brother who didn’t serve his country.

Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 2.24: ‘A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God.’ If one can be satisfied doing one’s very best, then we can do anything in life. This is how God builds his Church. He brings his servants to a state of peace in life so that whatever needs to be done gets done, and satisfaction flowers in it.