The Immovable Object

When Nothing Seems to Move

Have you ever pushed against something with all your strength and watched absolutely nothing happen?

You brace your feet. You lean forward. You put everything you have into the effort. Yet the object remains exactly where it was.

After a while, you begin to wonder why you are trying.

Sometimes our walk with God can feel that way. We pray. We read His Word. We try to obey what we understand. We return to Him with the same burden, and the circumstances before us seem unchanged.

Lord, are You there? Do You hear me? Is any of this accomplishing anything?

Think again about that immovable object. As you press against it, it exerts an equal and opposite force upon you. The absence of movement does not mean the absence of an interaction. Your muscles are working, even though the object has not moved.

That picture helps me think about perseverance, though our relationship with God is more than a law of physics. We cannot measure His love by how hard we push, or make Him answer by applying enough pressure.

But we must not mistake the absence of visible movement for the absence of God.

In Isaiah, God assures His people that He is with them and will strengthen and help them. Their need for help does not put them beyond His reach. Neither does our weakness mean we have been forgotten.

Paul understood something about a burden that remained. He asked the Lord repeatedly to remove an affliction. The answer he received was the assurance of Christ’s sufficient grace and power made perfect in weakness. The affliction had not simply disappeared, yet God had answered.

Could there be something happening in us while we wait for something to happen around us?

We may be learning patience. We may be discovering how little we can accomplish in our own strength. We may be learning to listen, to surrender our expectations, or to trust Him when we cannot explain what He is doing.

Perhaps the first thing God intends to move is something within me.

That does not make the effort unimportant. Paul tells believers to work out their salvation, and then reminds them that God is working within them toward His good purpose. Our obedience matters, and even our ability to obey depends upon His help.

We keep coming to Him. We pray honestly. We consider His Word. We take the next faithful step He has given us. Sometimes that step is to keep working. Sometimes it is to wait, receive help, or let go of a direction we have chosen for ourselves. Perseverance includes listening.

We do not have to pretend that every obstacle is an assignment from God. We can ask Him for wisdom about whether to continue, change direction, or rest.

Our hope rests in the One who raised Jesus from the dead. At the end of his teaching about resurrection, Paul encourages believers to remain steadfast in the Lord’s work, knowing that their labor in Him has lasting value.

We may not see that value today. We may not understand the timing. But the God we seek is living, present, and able to accomplish purposes beyond what we can presently see.

Lord, when nothing seems to move, help me remember that You are here. Teach me to recognize Your work and follow Your direction. Give me strength to continue where You lead, humility to change course when You ask, and trust to rest in Your grace. Accomplish Your purposes in me as well as through me.

The object before us may still look immovable.

We can bring even that to a God who has not gone away.