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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 with 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 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." 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. However, 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, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, 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, and 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 I, My friend, will 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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