GodReflection: Power Words

Have you ever noticed the difficulty of life navigation?

To say that life is hard deserves a chapter in the book World’s Greatest Understatements.

A flat tire prior to mobile phones usually meant I was stuck.

The night after a church service, when we showed three girls in our youth group a favorite off road fishing-hole several miles from town is a case at point.

I always suspected it was a mean spirited—but ingenious—rancher who placed roofing nails across the dirt road that led to the river. (Someone must have forgotten to close his gates.)

No one carries three spare tires–certainly, not in my old Plymouth.

A four a.m. morning delivery of the girls to their wide-awake and worried mothers made life hard to navigate the following day.

Three flat tires—come on. Some things are just too far out to be credible to fretful moms.

The unbelievable flat tire incident serves as an all too true parallel to life navigation.

Here is what I conclude.

I am not able to navigate life successfully under my own steam. Nails are constantly in my road and I can’t carry enough spare tires.

There were times when the tabletop of my life supported five or six unsolvable problems. There they lay—all of them—with no solution—not even on the horizon.

I wasn’t able.

Then there were the far too few times when it dawned upon me that the spirit of Jesus resided within my soul. He was able.

Did the problems disappear?

Not always.

Yes, sometimes a solution appeared that obviously was of the Divine.

At other times, He was able and the burden remained but it shifted to His shoulders from mine.

Here is what I am still learning.

I grow into ‘able’ as a disciple of Jesus.

He teaches me how to carry my life’s loads. Each time He lets me carry a package I increase in strength. Still there are packages too heavy and too abundant for me to bear. He takes those upon Himself.

Jesus addresses me with the same question he presented to two blind men who wanted to see, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

How I want to say yes—but often I hesitate.

It sometimes takes the sight of mud on my hands, knees, and face, to admit that His ‘able’ is greater than my ‘able.’

Paul reminds the church in Rome that God’s ‘able,’ is greater than the ‘able’ of all others when he tells them—and me—neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He tells members of the church in Corinth, God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.He writes to the members of the church in the city of Ephesus, Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us….

A quick interpretation—I think that means He is able to help me deal with my stack of nail-deflated ties.

Thus, I begin to see ‘able’ is a power word to live by.

His Spirit makes me able to carry whatever God designates as my load.

I rest assured God is able to carry the heavy stuff. He has my life under control. Together we are able.

Stay tuned and watch out for roofing nails.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – A GodReflection on the Power Word Able.

Gary@GodReflection.org