Heaping upon heaping. One on top of another. Piling upon piling. It is heavy, so heavy and feels like a pyramid of bricks. Brick upon brick. One on top of another. Burying us underneath the raging waves. The waves that have attempted to beat us and that have tossed us to and fro. It seems we will never escape the drowning from the terrifying evil present in this world.
Will this drowning ever cease? Will God come and take the bricks away? He has said that He will. He has said that as we labor, His yoke will be easy and His burden will be light. Why does it still feel so heavy?
Do we not fully trust Him? Is it our imperfection that keeps Him from taking the weight away? How do we move forward? Maranatha! Maranatha! Lord Jesus, come and deliver us from this evil world! But we hear Him whisper, “Just one more,” into our heavy laden and burdened souls.
The sun rises, and the sun falls once more. Another day, we the laborers, have spent within the harvest. Another day we spend serving the hurting and the broken. Another story of evil that has preyed upon the innocent. Another brick burying us deeper under the waves. It is an attempt to silence us, those of us speaking up for the ones oppressed by the evil of this world. The evil one thinks he has us now, but he forgot about the One…The One who anchors us in our faith! He forgets that our faith is steadfast. He underestimates the created full of love, truth, and compassion. The evil one forgets, but we do not.
We feel the heaviness begin to lighten; brick by brick is being removed. Unpiling and unpiling more. The heaping begins to diminish. We discover that the strong and raging waves never moved us to and fro. Steady, we stayed through the beatings of it all. We begin to feel unburdened and refreshed once more. Maranatha! Maranatha! Lord Jesus, come and deliver us from this world! We have heard that one more has proclaimed Your name. Is that the one more? But to the souls now refreshed and renewed, we hear Him whisper again. “Just one more.”
Repeat, the cycle repeats and repeats. And when our souls are burdened or rejoicing, it seems the Lord will tarry each day for “just one more”! But we cry out, Maranatha! Maranatha! Lord Jesus, come! Steady, we stay under the beatings of it all found never being tossed to and fro as He whispers over and over, “just one more”!
What if He had come before the day you cried in repentance for God to save you? What if He had come sooner than that day? What if, His patience had ended, and He delivered others from the evil of this world, but there you stood left in torment for eternity.
Keep working, keep going, keep proclaiming the good news. “Only Jesus saves!” Keep reaching out to the hurting and the broken. And keep crying out, Maranatha! Maranatha! Lord Jesus, come and deliver us from this evil world!!
