One day a man knelt in prayer to ask God what He would have him do. To the man's surprise God appeared to him and, pointing to a large boulder nearby, said, "I want you to push this rock."
Obedient to God's request, the man immediately began to push against the rock. But no matter how hard he pushed, the rock would not move. The next day he again pushed with all his strength to move the rock. He tried all he could think of, yet still he was unsuccessful.
Days passed, and the man continued to try unsuccessfully to move the rock. Each night the man returned home exhausted. Seeing his struggle, Satan came to tempt the man.
"Have you had any success moving this rock?"
"I have not."
"Of course you haven't. This rock is clearly too big to move. You have failed. You have wasted your time. Give up. To continue would be folly."
Troubled and discouraged, the man knelt in prayer to God. Once again, God appeared to him, and He asked the man what was wrong. The man cried, "You asked me to move this rock, and in spite of all my strength and all my intellect I have not moved it one millimeter."
Lovingly God replied, "My son, my friend. I never asked you to move the rock. I asked you to push it. You have done all that I have asked of you. For your faith and obedience you have been and shall be blessed.
Years later the man's daughter read through the journal which the man had kept as he tried to move the rock. She could see and understand all of what her father had tried to do, and how faithful her father had been. In a moment of divine inspiration she saw how close her father had been to moving the rock, and what her father had not yet understood.
She moved the rock.
And God saw that it was good.
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