The Catch

TODAY’S VERSES:  Psalm 46:10 and Proverbs 3:5-6     

     In the circus world, there may not be anything more exciting than watching the trapeze artists.   The flyer swings through the air, releases their grip, and tumbles over and over toward the catcher in the hopes that he/she will grab them at the perfect time.  There is a rule of thumb in this art that states “Don’t catch the catcher” and it goes against every impulse that human beings have.   It simply means that the flyer should not try to grab the hands of the catcher.  They are just to just remain calm and leave their hands outstretched… waiting for the catcher to do their job.  It’s nerve-wracking and takes a full commitment between the partners.  

When the flyer tries to help the catcher… problems happen.  Limbs get tangled and people fall to the net below.  

Commitment - trust - belief - faith.

Four words that not only define the roles of the trapeze artists… but are what should be at the heart of who we are as Christ-followers.  So many of us know the expression “let go and let God”  but how many of us do it?  We let go of one of our problems and trust that God will take care of it… but only temporarily.  When it gets down to crunch time we try to help God by worrying, taking over, and doing whatever we can to get through the situation as quickly as possible.  God wants to catch us and we refuse to let Him.  And time after time we find ourselves in the net below wondering where God went in all of it.  

God doesn’t drop us.  We just don’t trust Him to catch us.

Let that sink in for a second.  It’s not that God doesn’t care…it’s that we don’t allow Him to do things in His own way and time.  That healing you’re looking for?  God knows what’s on your next X-ray and will have the doctors in place to take care of it.   The financial pit you’ve dug yourself?  God has given you steps to climb back out in His Word.  The relationship that is struggling?  He’s ready to heal your heart (and theirs).  

Somewhere along the line we’ve convinced ourselves that if we aren’t in control, things don’t happen the way we want them to.  And when they go sideways, we don’t blame ourselves.   We shake our fists at heaven and wonder where God went.  God doesn’t move.  He sits on the opposite side of the arena waiting to catch us… waiting to heal our hurts… waiting to assure us that He’s all we need.  He isn’t going to swing toward us and meet us halfway.  Faith is not a 50/50 proposition.  God already believes in us 100%… now it’s time for us to live the same way.  He wants us to let go of the trapeze… let go of the control… and have the faith that His outstretched arms will be there waiting to grab us before we come close to falling.  

He is all we need. 

God will catch you.  He doesn’t need help.  Commit to Him… trust He is able… believe He will do it… and have the faith to leave your issues with Him.  

And when we do these things, and stop trying to catch the Catcher, we will live free of so many of the stresses that keep us awake at night.  

You can do this.  I’ll be praying for you.  

Believe

Dr. Earl Warrick of the Dow Corning Corporation made an interesting discovery in 1943.  As World War 2 raged on, he worked tirelessly to find a substitute for real (and much more expensive) rubber.  The result?  Something we played with as kids... the combination of boric acid and silicone... Silly Putty.  You remember Silly Putty right?  When you pushed on it, you could change it into any shape you wanted.  And when you stretched it out too far... it would snap.   

Have you ever felt like that?  Pushed on... bent out of shape... pulled to the point of breaking?  Many do.  Scripture has good news for us...  In Joshua 1:9, it says “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”   Today I challenge you... for the next 24 hours... believe and live out this verse...   

Believe that you are strong through God’s power.

Believe that you can be courageous because He protects those He loves.

Believe that you can live fearlessly because God holds the future.

Believe you are never alone because He is with you...even in the darkness.

Refuse to allow life to bend you to it’s shape.. Believe and let God mold you into the person you were created to be.

Bent

Dr. Earl Warrick of the Dow Corning Corporation made an interesting discovery in 1943.  As World War 2 raged on, he worked tirelessly to find a substitute for real (and much more expensive) rubber.  The result?  Something we played with as kids... the combination of boric acid and silicone... Silly Putty.  You remember Silly Putty right?  When you pushed on it, you could change it into any shape you wanted.  And when you stretched it out too far... it would snap.   

Have you ever felt like that?  Pushed on... bent out of shape... pulled to the point of breaking?  Many do.  Scripture has good news for us...  In Joshua 1:9, it says “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”   Today I challenge you... for the next 24 hours... believe and live out this verse...   

Believe that you are strong through God’s power.

Believe that you can be courageous because He protects those He loves.

Believe that you can live fearlessly because God holds the future.

Believe you are never alone because He is with you...even in the darkness.

Refuse to allow life to bend you to it’s shape.. Believe and let God mold you into the person you were created to be.

Who Do You Believe?

I heard the story of a weak sickly man. The man was so sick and he could not afford going to town to the doctor. The man lived in the deep back woods in an old log cabin... his condition seemed to grow worse with each passing day.

Out in front of his cabin was a massive boulder. One night in a very real vision, God told him to go out there and push the huge rock all day long, day after day. The man got up early in the morning, and with great excitement he pushed the rock until lunch, then he rested a while and pushed the rock until supper time. The man loved pushing against the rock, it gave him meaning.

Day rolled into week, and week into months, he faithfully pushed against the rock.

After 8 months of pushing the rock, the weak sickly man was getting tired.  In his tiredness he started to doubt his dream. So one day he measured from his porch to the rock, and after daily pushing the rock, he would measure to see how much he had moved it.  After two weeks of pushing and measuring, he realized he had not moved the boulder not a 1/32 of an inch!  As a matter of fact, the boulder was in the same place as when he started.

The man was so disappointed, he thought the dream was so special and now after nine months he saw his work had accomplished nothing, he was tired and his dream seemed dashed. 

Ever felt like that?  Have you ever wondered why the dream God put in your heart hasn’t seemed to move?  You spend hours praying about it... invest resources into it... and take time each day to work hard... but it isn’t going anywhere.    The new business begins... no clients.   The new job starts... you feel underemployed.  Your child isn’t getting any more obedient... the boss doesn’t seem to be letting up... what was once a thriving marriage has started to stagnate... your life feels like a constant push against an immovable object.  Discouragement, like we talked about last weekend, begins to creep in and we wonder if we’ll ever succeed.  

We keep pushing a rock that isn’t moving.  

Why not quit?  

Maybe we misjudged it.  

Maybe the dream wasn’t from God.

Maybe God isn’t listening.

Does God know?  Care?  If this IS from Him... why doesn’t the rock move?

Our story continues...

As the sun was sitting in the west, Jesus came and sat down next to the man as he cried. Jesus said, “Son, why are you crying?”

The man replied, “Lord, You know how sick and weak I am, and then this dumb dream gave me a false hope and I have pushed with all that was within me for over 9 months, and that dumb old rock is right where it was when I started.”

Jesus was kind and said to him, “I never told you to move the rock. I told you to push against the rock.” 

The man replied, “Yes, Sir, that was the dream.”

Jesus told the man to step in front of the mirror and look at himself. As an act of obedience the man stepped in front of a mirror and gazed at his body. The man was amazed, he had been so sickly and weak, and what he saw in the mirror was a strong muscular man. The man also suddenly realized that he had not been coughing all night. 

Pushing the rock had made him stronger and healthier... more able to be the man he was created to be.

What looked like a waste of time in pushing the rock was actually time well spent. 

The plan of God was not for the rock, but for the man.

Check out these two similarly-themed verses:

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’”  Jeremiah 29:11 

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  Romans 8:28 

Every heartbreak, setback, storm, and challenge all mean something.  You may not be moving the rock, but you were never supposed to.  God simply says... if you stay obedient to me... never give up... I will make you stronger in the struggle.  Oftentimes, we want what we want...and when it doesn’t look like we are succeeding... we get discouraged.  God reminds us in today’s verses that what we perceive as disaster and failure are actually useful by Him...

Put simply, God uses what doesn’t seem to be working to remind us that He always is.  

I don’t know what “rock” you’re struggling with today, but when it feels like you’re pushing and it isn’t going anywhere... don’t get discouraged. The world may not see the rock move and proclaim you are a failure.  

God uses the rock to strengthen you... your obedience, perseverance, and faith in Christ.  He doesn’t judge you... He proclaims you a masterpiece.

Who do you choose to believe? 

Believe

Dr. Earl Warrick of the Dow Corning Corporation made an interesting discovery in 1943.  As World War 2 raged on, he worked tirelessly to find a substitute for real (and much more expensive) rubber.  The result?  Something we played with as kids... the combination of boric acid and silicone... Silly Putty.  You remember Silly Putty right?  When you pushed on it, you could change it into any shape you wanted.  And when you stretched it out too far... it would snap.   

Have you ever felt like that?  Pushed on... bent out of shape... pulled to the point of breaking?  Many do.  Scripture has good news for us...  In Joshua 1:9, it says “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”   Today I challenge you... for the next 24 hours... believe and live out this verse...   

Believe that you are strong through God’s power.

Believe that you can be courageous because He protects those He loves.

Believe that you can live fearlessly because God holds the future.

Believe you are never alone because He is with you...even in the darkness.

Refuse to allow life to bend you to it’s shape.. Believe and let God mold you into the person you were created to be.  

Bent Out of Shape?

Dr. Earl Warrick of the Dow Corning Corporation made an interesting discovery in 1943.  As World War 2 raged on, he worked tirelessly to find a substitute for real (and much more expensive) rubber.  The result?  Something we played with as kids... the combination of boric acid and silicone... Silly Putty.  You remember Silly Putty right?  When you pushed on it, you could change it into any shape you wanted.  And when you stretched it out too far... it would snap.   

Have you ever felt like that?  Pushed on... bent out of shape... pulled to the point of breaking?  Many do.  Scripture has good news for us...  In Joshua 1:9, it says “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”   Today I challenge you... for the next 24 hours... believe and live out this verse...   

Believe that you are strong through God’s power.

Believe that you can be courageous because He protects those He loves.

Believe that you can live fearlessly because God holds the future.

Believe you are never alone because He is with you...even in the darkness.

Refuse to allow life to bend you to it’s shape.. Believe and let God mold you into the person you were created to be.