Undaunted

April 13

The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.

Sometimes the hardest aspect of the task ahead is the realization that in spite of all we've already done, there is yet more to do. Compounding the difficulty is the inclusion in all we've done of what we consider to have been our 'best shot.' If we've tried our best and still seem to have missed the mark, our frustration is intensified. After all, what can possibly be left to do when our best has not brought us to a desirable conclusion?

At that problematic juncture we find ourselves confronted with a choice. Shall we abandon the task? Shall we give it up as a bad deal? A program about the filming of the movie JAWS, the summer blockbuster that was made in 1974, reveals that the movie was a very difficult one to make. It was the first to be filmed on open water and the challenges were seemingly endless.

Production had gone way beyond the time they'd anticipated it would take to complete the movie and they had gone way over budget. The young director, Steven Spielberg, had considered abandoning the project because there were so many things about it that were beyond his control and they, as well as the things he could control, were not going well.

Of course, we know the movie was completed and it was the top-money maker of its time. Spielberg said at the conclusion of the presentation that because of JAWS, he had the liberty to take his career anywhere he wanted it to go. Because of this movie that seemed would result in disaster to his career, his career was established, his reputation was elevated, and his financial circumstances were greatly enriched.

As believers, we can find ourselves with our backs to the wall as Spielberg was with this movie that seemed to have become an albatross around his neck. Nothing we do seems to avail us any advantage and there seems to be no wiggle room left for us to work. The only viable option before us seems to be extricating ourselves from the whole endeavor.

Had Spielberg done that, it is unlikely that his name would be a household word or that some of the most famous movies of the last few decades--SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, ET, and others too numerous to include would have been made. Because a man was resolute in his determination to finish what he'd begun, because he employed the scriptural admonition, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it as unto the Lord,” Colossians 3:23, he earned the enviable ability to do whatever he wants for the rest of his life!

Do we have that kind of assurance? Most of us cannot hope to attain the level of achievement that this movie wizard has reached, but as Christians we can be sure that our God and King will ever be true in our lives. We can rest on the assurance that the One who has placed a task before us will empower us to complete it.

It may not be done within the time constraints we would have expected. Perhaps we will be required to spend much more of ourselves in completing it than we ever anticipated the cost would be, but ultimately, the Power behind us will enable us to achieve our goal.

God doesn't expect us to envision the whole thing; He simply encourages us to go to the next step hand-in-hand with Him, trusting His power to effect the facilitation of all He gives us to do. If we believe the Power behind us is greater than the task before us, it will be so because the Word says, "As YOU BELIEVE, SO SHALL IT BE DONE TO YOU," Matthew 8:13, Matthew 9:29. Jesus' Power is always behind us, so we cannot fail!