EXTRA ENERGY WHEN WE NEED
IT
It was a Tuesday evening
when I went out to water the flowers and throw the ball for Peanut. As I was
getting ready to come in, it hit me that the next day was garbage day when they
pick up extra stuff –OHHH NOOO! I desperately needed to put out as many of the
cut branches as I could, but I was pretty sure I didn't have an ounce of extra
energy to do it. I turned toward the door to go inside but looked around at the
pile of branches and the empty garbage cans, and I made the decision just to
start.
Partway through, I heard
myself saying, "Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Lord," and I kept going
until I stuffed as many branches into those cans as I could. Putting cut
branches in the garbage cans may sound like a trivial task, but to me, it was
important. To God, all things we do are important.
Have you ever noticed how
you can think you have no energy to do a job, or you don't want to do it at
all, but if you make the decision just to start it, soon you feel like someone
gave you a shot of supernatural adrenalin and you just keep at it till the job's
done? I think that's the Lord. The Bible says He gives us strength.
In the book of Joel, the
people were already working hard, but they also had a war on their hands. God
said: "Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into spears:
let the weak say, 'I am strong'” (Joel 3:10). The Lord made sure they would win
the battle as well as having a great harvest.
When we feel like we don’t
accomplish as much as we’d like, many times, it’s because we just don’t start.
How much closer would we be to our goals if we’d started when we first intended
to? It’s up to us to start. God can’t make us do anything against our own will.
He’s given us freedom of will. When we start something, any project, anything
that’s good for us, it’s up to us to start, but then the Lord, by way of the
Holy Spirit in us, can energize our physical bodies (including our minds) to
get the project done.
The truth of Philippians
4:13 is awesome: “I can do all things through Christ, which strentheneth me.”
But we don’t have to do
everything alone. Yes, we are responsible for deciding to start, but the Lord
also provides help. When Moses went to battle, God told him he had to hold up
his hand to have victory. But Moses got tired. When his arm began to droop
because he couldn’t hold it up for an extended period, he got two others to
help him, and they won the battle.
“And Moses said
unto Joshua, ‘Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will
stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.’ And it
came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel
prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
“But Moses' hands
were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon;
and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the
other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of
the sun.
“So Joshua destroyed the
Amalekite army with swords. And the
Lord said unto Moses, ‘Write this for a memorial in a book,’” (Ex.
17:9,11-14).
Sometimes we can ask the
Lord for extra energy to get a job done. But at other times we need to ask people
to help us. But the first big step is just to get started. It’s amazing what
the Lord will do to bless us when we are willing to make ourselves start. I’ve
seen this work so many times. And a lot of times the job isn’t nearly as
difficult or as time-consuming as we thought it would be. I love it when the
Lord makes a task go at superspeed! It makes me laugh at myself, but also
encourages me for the next round.
God is interested in everything
we do, and He’s always right there to help us Himself, or bring along a friend
or two to hold us up and keep the good stuff going!
Love, Carolyn
