Recently we saw a sign which said something to this effect, “It’s not the mountain before me that is stopping me, it’s the pebble in my shoe that hurts when I climb.” It is true that we can sometimes scale great heights and then be defeated by something as small as a pebble in our shoe.
What is stopping us from scaling the heights that we want to climb for the Lord? Paul was persuaded that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If Paul could climb over all these obstacles on his way to the Kingdom, are we going to let a pebble come between us and our Lord? What could a pebble in our shoe represent in our walk to the Kingdom? Could apathy and indifference be our pebble? What about laziness or boredom?
Recently, we read that over one half of all the people in the United States and Canada are bored. It went on to say that 75% of those over 65 are bored. It seems to be true of many young people today as well, for they often look bored and they frequently act bored with life.
How could anyone in love with Jesus Christ be bored? We are living in exciting times just prior to his return to this earth to make all the wrong things right. Life for us should be filled with joy, with excitement, with anticipation. People who are bored usually lack commitment. Even people committed to a worldly goal are less likely to be bored than those with no goals at all. The Psalmist tells us, “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.” Total commitment to the Lord will reduce the pebble in our shoe to its proper size and we will be off and running up the mountain oblivious of the minor discomfort to our foot.
Contrast this with the bored, apathetic, lazy person who has nothing to do but think about that pebble. Life is full of pebbles but we have mountains to climb. “This is the day which the LORD hath made.” Now what are we going to do with it? Mope around because of the pebble in our shoe? Think about all our aches and pains, feel bored and maybe even go back to bed? Solomon tells us about the slothful man who said, “yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep.” “As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.”
The lazy, the slothful, the bored lie in bed or get up only to complain about the pebbles and all their other aches and pains while those who are totally committed to the Lord are leaping for joy. A pebble in the shoe doesn’t hurt when one is airborne and Jesus told us to “leap for joy.” Do we think he really meant this, or was our Saviour just saying words? He tells us to “leap for joy: for behold, your reward is great in heaven.”
How exciting our life should be! What a great God is our God! What a wonderful hope is our hope! Truly we “will rejoice and be glad in this day which the LORD hath made.” “We can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us.” We have committed our way to the Lord and He will bring it to pass. Nothing shall separate us from the love of God. A pebble slow us down? Never! Are we committed? Are we persuaded as Paul was that “neither height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Robert J Lloyd
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