You know that feeling when you have a huge project you’ve been asked to tackle? That overwhelming feeling that it’s even bigger than you realized? That it’s going to be really hard, backbreaking work and is going to take a really. long. time.
You know that feeling of pure joy when you complete the first step, and then the next, and then you start to see real progress as you move along? Even though it’s been tough and there have been days you want to give up. Even when unexpected roadblocks come along and stop you in your tracks. Keeping your eye on the prize, on the ultimate end result. It keeps you going, day in and day out.
I’m learning that this is what kingdom work is like. We are laborers in a neverending harvest field that reaches farther than we can imagine. We pour sweat and shed tears as we till, plant, water, and weed, sometimes enjoying the fruits, sometimes moving on before they’re ripe. We are “like living stones being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood (1Pet. 2:5),” groaning as we bear the weight required of us, but standing firm on the victory won on the cross by Christ our Cornerstone. We toil with the relentless joy of the Lord as our tower of strength, tediously but eagerly adding one stone a time.
And just when we think we’ve had enough, when the pain and weariness reach to the deepest part of our beings, we find refuge in the shadow of His wings. When fire threatens to overcome us and we don’t know where to hide, His wings of love and mercy are there, sheltering us, protecting us, calming us. When we feel like we are drowning in the rushing river of life and its daily struggles, He lifts us up and carries us to peaceful waters. Even when storms cause the wall we just constructed to crumble, He fills us with unearthly power, supporting our hands to lift yet another stone and rebuild what has been broken. He gives rest when it’s needed, and strength beyond measure to complete the work to which we have been called. After all, He tells us in John 14 that “whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do.” He certainly will not leave us helpless and bereft, unable to carry out those “greater works.”
This is life. The abundant life we have because He came (John 10:10). This grace-filled rhythm of work and rest, always seeking Him, listening to Him, following Him, walking with Him by faith. Loving Him with our whole hearts, souls, and minds, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Strife will inevitably come, more often than we would like, bringing dark clouds of hurt, hopelessness, despair. But when we walk by faith, letting mercy lead the way, His peace that passes all understanding will prevail, showering His radiant light over us, light that pierces straight into our souls. Light that illuminates a path marked by “a drop of grace … in every footprint (Rich Mullins).” A path well-traveled by our Helper, the Spirit of Truth, who walks alongside each one of us so we are never alone, showing us The Way that will ultimately lead us to eternal victory in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (John 14).
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