A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his
room filled with light and the Savior 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.
The man did this, 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 his might. 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,
Satan decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into
the man's mind: "You have been pushing against that rock
for a long time, and it hasn't budged. Why kill yourself over
this? You are never going to move it"; 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."
Then 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, I have not even budged that rock by half a
millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"
The Lord responded compassionately: "My child, when I
asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that
your task was to push against the rock with all 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. 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 sinewed 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. I will
now move the rock."
At times when we hear a word from God, we tend to use
our own intellect to decifer what He wants, when actually
what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him.
By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains,
but it is still God who moves the mountains.
-- Author Unknown
