"When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could embalm him. Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb. They worried out loud to each other, 'Who will roll back the stone from the tomb for us?'" (Mark 16:1-3, The Message).
They were worried about the stone. They couldn't move it, there was no one with them that could. I don't know what they were thinking about. They probably wouldn't have asked the guards to move the stone and they sure didn't expect it to move on its own. Yet they went anyway. Although the stone was an obstacle for them, they just went.
It's too hard.
I don't have the strength.
There's something keeping me from it.
How many excuses have we made whenever we see obstacles and decide not to do something we have felt moved to do? There are large stones in the way that we can't move on our own, so we don't even try, we give up before an attempt is even made. We allow the stone to be a discouragement.
Isn't it interesting that these women didn't even get to perform the task for which they went to the tomb in the first place? God had other plans, a different message for those who didn't see the obstacle and stay home. They were the first to hear the Great News of the resurrection!
God moves in us, speaks to us all the time. And most of us already know what God is saying to us, we feel the nudge of God to do certain things, to get more involved, to pray, to act, to share, to give. Yet we make excuses like the ones I mentioned earlier.
“What is impossible from a human perspective is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27, NLT)
We've got to move when nudged, to go anyway, to see beyond the impossibilities, trust God, and walk right up to that stone. Just maybe there's a message etched in it just for us, or it has been moved by the time you get to it.
We won't know until we get there.
Peace ><>
pc
2 comments:
Amen!Christ is risen! So shall we be able to rise above all obstacles to serve the Lord - especially those obstacles which we create for ourselves!
All those excuses, yes I have heard them all before...hmmm..in fact I think I have heard them straight from my own mouth. They are excuses we use when we lack the faith....the blind faith that truly makes us "see" what's behind the stone. If we put faith in ourselves more than we put faith in God, we start playing a tug of war with Him. We foolishly think we can control our situation and win....but so many times we fail because when we are in control we put human limitations upon us. When we trust God and let Him control..the limitations are removed and yes...through Him all things are possible. I want that kind of faith...faith and trust in God so that I can walk up to the stone lying before me and have the strength(from Him) to either move it, climb over it or face it head on and read the message written there for me. I am putting my rope down...I don't want to play tug of war with God. I want to surrender to Him...and let Him take control over me..I want to "let go and let God"
Post a Comment