New King James Version (NKJV)To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:
1 I will love You, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.4 The pangs of death surrounded me,
And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
5 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.
I have no strength. I am weak. I must not fear for “the Lord is my strength.”
Celeste Lockhart retold a great story that I’ve heard before in the Bahama Times yesterday. It is called simply, “Push.”
Here’s the synopsis. A man is told by God to push against a rock. He does this faithfully.
Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.
Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the adversary decided it was the ideal time to enter the picture by placing negative thoughts into the manÂs weary mind. Here is what the adversary indicated “you have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasnÂt budged. Why are you killing yourself over this? You are never going to move it.” Never, never, never!!
Thus, giving the man the impression that the task was an impossible one and that he was a total failure, these thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.
He then began to ask himself the question, “Why am I killing myself over this? I will just put in my time, giving the minimum effort and that will be good enough.”
He planned to do just that until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord. As he prayed, he said “Lord, I have laboured long and hard in your service, putting forth all of my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not budged that rock by half a millimeter. Please tell me what is wrong and 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 and that was what you did. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was simply to push. You did just that and now you come to me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Take a good look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back strong, your hands callused from constant prolonged 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 havenÂt moved the rock. But remember 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 move the rock.”
God is our strength. We must push. We must do that task which we are called to do. God’s job is to handle the results. We see only in part! He sees the whole!
Let us not become weary of doing good for at the proper time we will reap the harvest!
Lord, as we labor let us remember it is not in vain. Let us seek You in all we do and be faithful to the task at hand. Forgive us when we fail you and doubt you. Lord, I pray that you will exalt yourself through the upcoming Olympic games and that you will give a special place of honor to those athletes who call You Lord! We bless your name forever! Let all of the rocks cry out praises to you, dear God. Praise Jesus Christ for his kindness to us! In Jesus name. Amen.