THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

In her book, Each New Day, Corrie ten Boom tells the story of William Nagenda, an African evangelist. One day he came home from his travel and was met at the station by his three-year old son, who upon seeing his father made a request, “Daddy, I will carry your suitcase.” Not wanting to let him down, he told his son to lay his hand on his hand. They, then, carried the suitcase home together. When they reached home, the little boy excitedly told his mother, “I carried Daddy’s suitcase.” I am sure we’re all smiling. ?

Corrie ten Boom explains the lesson from this anecdote, “When we have heavy things to bear and we overcome by laying our weak hands on the strong hand of the Lord, it is foolish to say, ‘I have carried the load.’ We must give the Lord all the honor He is due.” Yes, the fact that we can be where we are at now is because of the grace of God. The fact that we could go through difficult phases of our lives, it’s because of the power of the Lord given to us. We must not forget where our strength and help came from.

There are of course a number of signs that we have in fact forgotten that it’s the Lord’s grace and power that have enabled us to pass through challenging times. One of them is we begin to look around and pass judgment on others. When we start to fix our eyes on others’ weaknesses, it usually is a sign that we have forgotten that we were once in their places or even in worse places, and that it was God’s mercy that has helped and pulled us out of the mire.

It is God’s mighty hand that has carried our heavy burdens. The truth is we have actually added the extra weight to that heavy burden. So,there is really no room to brag about our strength or ability. No, God is the One carrying both our suitcase and our hand.

Pastor Paul