Do You Understand God's Directions?

There is an old saying, "I know you think you understand what you think I said; but, I am not sure you actually heard what I meant." This is true in all parts of life: jobs, family relations, friendships, and especially our relationship with God. What did you think you heard?

A man was sleeping one 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 sunup to sundown, 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. Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind (he will do it every time)!
"You have been pushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn't moved," he said. Thus, Satan gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.

Satan said, "Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough."

That's what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of prayer and to 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 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 shiny and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. True, 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. That 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 simple obedience and faith in Him.

By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God Who moves the mountains.

When everything seems to go wrong . . . just PUSH.

When the job gets you down . . . just PUSH.

When people don't do as you think they should . . . just PUSH.

When your money is "gone" and the bills are due . . . just PUSH.

When people just don't understand you . . . just PUSH.

P = Pray
U= Until
S = Something
H= Happens

"For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are-that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption-that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." [1 Corinthians 1:19-31 (KJV)]

The "PUSH" story and this Scripture exemplify the idea of misunderstanding the words of Authority. The man in the story misunderstood what God wanted because he was using his wisdom, not God's. The Scripture tells us that God will use the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.

The same is happening in our society and in the world as a whole. The UN is trying to pass laws for peace and creating war. They pass a law outlawing criticism of religion; but it is only for the religion of hate. This same religion claims it is a "religion of Peace" but it is all about hate and killing.

The laws of the USA are the same. The "Bank Secrecy Act" actually makes all your banking records available to any IRS agent. Where is the secrecy?

The Homeland Security Administration is making our homeland anything but secure. No patriot feels any security with the people who are in charge now.

We have a President that does not even know the motto of our country. He states it is "E Pluribus Unum" while visiting Indonesia. It is actually "In God We Trust." He leaves out the Creator when quoting the "Declaration of Independence."

This is only a few instances of the wise of this world being foolish. There are more than can be mentioned in this short essay. We must trust in God as our only Savior. He will save us from the foolishness of this world. We have a "Blessed Hope" of His "Glorious Appearing." When He comes, we will have wisdom that is true wisdom.