A man was sleeping at night in
his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared.
The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large
rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push
against the rock with all his might.
So, this the man did, day after
day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down; his shoulders set
squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock,
pushing with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin
sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.
Since the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to
enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: “you have
been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t moved.”
Thus, giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and
that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the
man. “Why kill myself over this?” he thought! “I’ll just put in my time,
giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough.”And that
is what he planned to do, until one day he decided to make it a matter
of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.
“Lord,” he said, “I have labored
long and hard in your service, using all my strength to do that which
you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that
rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?” The Lord
responded compassionately,”My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and
you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock
with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention
to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now
you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed.
But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and
muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from
constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. Now, my friend, I will now move the rock.”
At times, when we hear a word
from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants,
when actually what God wants is just a simple obedience and faith in
Him. By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know
that it is still God who moves mountains.
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