The Diggers Prayer

The other day I was out in my backyard digging to China (or so it seemed). The previous owner of our house had tried to make their backyard a tropical paradise, but a paradise it is not - at the moment. Therefore, I took on the feat of digging up the horrendous water reeds and multiple banana trees that clogged one corner of our yard.

After toiling in the humid heat of Houston on these particularly stubborn plants, I was exhausted, and no further than when I started an hour ago. At that moment a thought popped into my head ,that I should pray about this situation - why not, couldn't hurt right?

So shovel in hand and sweat pouring down my face I prayed, "God help me uproot this jungle that I am standing in!" Trusting that God would help me, I put my shovel back into the dirt and started to dig. To my amazement , 30 seconds later, the plant suddenly popped up effortessly; followed soon by the next plant and the next.

Leaning on my shovel after all tropical plant life had been cleared, I began to think. Sometimes in life we can have all the things or gifts we need to accomplish something ,and yet we fail. Why?

I had all the tools that I needed to dig up those plants - shovel (check), gloves (check), able body (check), legs (check), and some serious digging boots (check, check); but the thing that I was forgetting was to ask God to help me. He was standing there heavenly shovel in hand, ready but patiently waiting for me to turn to him for help.

Despite all the gifts, talents, or strengths that we have, they amount to nothing without the power of God behind them. We get so muleheaded sometimes that we forget that we can do nothing in our own strength.

There are many examples in the Bible that demonstrate this principle, the one that stands out in my mind is Joshua and the Walls of Jericho (Judges Chapter 6).

The Israelites and Joshua encircled the walls of Jericho for seven days under
the Lord's commandment - they marched around the city of Jericho carrying the
ark of the covenant for six days, and on the seventh the seven priests sounded a
rams horn and all shouted - and the walls came crumbling down.

Can you imagine how crazy the Israelites looked to the people of Jericho -what kind of siege was this? The people of Jericho failed to realize that with God's power a crickets song could crumble moutains. What a different story it would have been if Joshua had not asked for God's help, and tried to take Jericho in his own strength.



I challenge you to seek God's power in all things (big or small). He is more than qualified to ignite our gifts, talents, and strenghts into more than we could have ever dreamed them to be. After all, He made the wind sing, the oceans roar, the birds fly, the mountains grow, and our heart beat. I think He is able, don't you?