Get Down!
Do not rejoice over me, my enemy for though I fall I will
rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the lord will be my light. Micah 7:8
Ok, boys and girls, its story time. Our story today is Mike
Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. Mike Mulligan owned a
steam shovel, who he called Mary Anne. They were very good diggers and loved
what they did. When the diesel shovels
and gasoline shovels came along they got most of the jobs. This made Mike and
Mary Anne sad. One day they learned that a town needed a new town hall and told
the mayor that they could dig the basement for the town hall in one day. The
mayor agreed to let them try but said that if they did not finish it in one
day, they would not get paid. Mike and Mary Anne were on the job early and
started to dig. One little boy came and watched and they dug faster and better.
Then more people came and watched. The
more people who watched the faster and better they dug. Just as the sun went
down they finished the last corner of the basement. Everyone cheered, until
they realized that they had not left a way to get out. In the end they built the building over the
top of them. Mike became the janitor and Mary Anne the heater.
Today I feel like Mike Mulligan. I feel down. I am in some
battles today and some of them I don’t feel like I’m winning. I feel like I have been so busy, even if it is
busy doing good things, that I have dug myself in a hole and not left a way
out. I want to get out but I’m not sure how to do it. I also have voices from
my past telling me I deserve to be down and should just stay there. You may be
down for a different reason than I am. Maybe you are struggling to climb out of
addiction. You have plenty of people telling you that you are in a hole, but
you know that. Maybe you have life crashing in on you and don’t feel like you
can take another step up. You have plenty of people telling you what you need
to do to climb out of the hole, but you can’t seem to do it.
First we have to watch our thoughts. To stave off the voices
like the ones I am hearing we have to “take every thought captive to the
obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5) Paul says this in Philippians 4: 8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any
excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Second, we cannot get out of the hole alone. In Ecclesiastes
4:9-12 we read Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for
their toil. ... But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another
to lift him up! ... And though a man might prevail against one who is alone,
two will withstand him—a
threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
Finally, not only do we have to rely on our brothers and
sisters, we have to rely on God. We are sometimes afraid that God is mad at us
or ashamed of us because we are down. Scripture tells us that he is for us and
not against us. (Romans 8:31) Micah 7:8 is one of my life verses. It reads “Do
not rejoice over me, my enemy for though I fall I will rise again. Though I sit
in darkness, the lord will be my light.” (Micah 7:8)
Don’t be ashamed to get down, but don’t stay there when you
don’t have to. Put on your armor and fight against negative voices. Accept help
and comfort from Christian friends, and from your Father who loves you enough
that He sent his son, Jesus, to come down for you.
