By Dr. Rebekah McCloud
In the church program for March, Pastors included a piece called “I Believe.” I don’t know if you read it yet, if not please do. I was struck by the last of the statements that referenced Psalm 91. So, I read it. It is a beautiful chapter that talks about the Lord being our refuge and our deliverer.
Verse 13 is powerful! It says, “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.” Grace, this is good news. No matter what—wild animals, adversity, lack, sickness, wayward children, broken relationships, sin or doubt—no matter what, we have the power to trample it all under our feet. Amen.
Note, I said under OUR feet. We are designed to work together. Even from the beginning of time, after God created Adam, He recognized it was not good for Adam to be alone so he made a “help meet” for him.
The Bible is full of examples of helpers. In Exodus we read about Aaron and Hur who raised Moses’ arms when he grew tired. In Romans, we meet Priscilla and Aquila, Paul’s helpers in Christ Jesus. We know the story of other helpers: Rahab who hides the spies, Ruth who provides for her mother-in-law, and Esther who goes to the King. All of these helpers put their hands to the plow, for such a time as this.
The media is filled with messages of rugged individualism, doing your own thang, having it your way, and “me, myself and I.” But let’s face it, when the rubber meets the road and the going gets tough, most of us realize, we cannot do it alone. In fact, Ecclesiastes 4:9 says, “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor.” Additionally, Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so, a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” We were designed to work together.
Grace, we are beginning 15 years as a body of believers. I’m believing God for a ten-fold blessing. One day the church will be celebrating its 150th anniversary! Amen.
But we must work together. Easier said than done; perhaps. As good and faithful stewards of our time, talent, money and resources, we must be on guard to stay away from the four bodies. Here’s another little goodie from Momma’s “things to keep.”
“This is the story of four people named
Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
There was an important job to do and
Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it; but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about it.
Because it was Everybody’s job.
Everybody thought Anybody could do it.
But Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody
And Nobody did what Anybody could have done.”
Grace, let’s not fall prey to this trap of the four bodies. It will take all of us—our peeps, our crew, our village, our Hebrews, our posse, our squad, our brood, our circle, our foot soldiers, our worker-bees, and our brothers and sisters in Christ—it will take all of us to do the work the Lord has placed into our hands and to do it decently and in order.
1 Corinthians 12:14 says, “For the body is not one member, but many.” Amen. Grace, we have talent with a capital T. When we put our hands to the plow, when we redeem the time, when we stand on the promises of God and when we become co-laborers with our pastors and our church family, I declare and decree, if we trust more, reach deeper, grow stronger and soar higher, we will have the power to trample the lion, the adder, the dragon and anything else under our feet. There will be nothing, that together, we cannot accomplish. Amen!