Heart and Soul Messages

I’m not going to remember all of this story correctly, which is actually a sad thing given that it has really been something that has stayed with me for about the past 25 years and has been brought back to mind so often when I face any kind of trial. But, here it is – butchered or not…

There was a man that had a stone just outside of the door of his home. He prayed that first day and asked the Lord to please move this stone. The Lord answered, “Go push on the rock.”

Excited to have an answer to his prayer, the man ran outside and pushed on the rock in all faith that he would be able to make it move. And he pushed. And pushed. Finally, out of exhaustion, he went back inside.

The next day, he prayed again, “Lord, I think I heard you correctly. You said to push on the rock, but it’s still there. It hasn’t moved. Please remove this rock.” Again, the Lord told him, without a doubt, to go push on the rock.

Again, the man went outside and pushed on the rock the entire day to move it. The rock still didn’t budge. It remained in the same exact place.

Day after day after day this continued. The man prayed, the Lord answered, and the man pushed. After more than a month’s worth of days, the man became sad that the rock was still there, in the same exact place it had always been. He took his sadness (and let’s face it – there had to be some frustration and feeling of being defeated here, too) to the Lord.

“Lord,” the man prayed, “day after day, I have gone out and pushed on the rock to move it as you have told me to do. Yet, the rock is still there in the same place it has always been. I don’t understand. But if it is Your will that I keep doing this, then Your will, not mine.”

The Lord answered the man. “My child,” the Lord replied, “Each day you have gone out to move that rock after praying to Me, and now take note of what has happened. You have spent each day in communication with Me, so your mind is more focused on Me. And look at your arms, they are now so strong from all of the times that you have tried to move the rock. But, my sweet child, I never told you to MOVE the rock. I told you PUSH on the rock. Your job was obedience and to grow stronger. It is up to Me to MOVE the rock. And because of your growth and obedience, the rock will now be moved.”

Again, I’m sure I’ve butchered that story, but I think it’s put together enough for you to get the picture. Sometimes, and I will speak for myself here since this is a thought blog, I know that I try to act out on the RESULT of my prayer requests instead of the PROCESS of the prayer requests. I mistakenly try to do the part that the Lord reserves for Himself to do.

What I need to remember – and you, too, if you are at all relating to this thought blog – is that it is my job to be obedient and persistent REGARDLESS OF ANY NOTICEABLE RESULTS. It is the Lord’s faithfulness to His believing children to answer it in His timing and in His way.

The Scriptures tell us that His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9), He is able to do exceedingly above and beyond anything that we can think or imagine (Ephesians 3:20), and that He works all things together for our good for those that love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

So as I am going through my valley experience right now (and you should as well if this is sounding familiar to you), I’m going to remember those promises. And I am going to go out and PUSH on the rock. That’s my job – to PUSH. And I will believe that the Lord will MOVE it when He says it’s time.

Thank you, Lord, for not moving my rocks until it is the best time for me.