2020 Daily Devotion - Day 180

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Framed on my desk, at the Mount of Olives Church office, is one of my favorite poems. It is by Edgar A. Guest, and it serves as a constant reminder to me that when life and situations become hard and difficult, we don’t throw in the towel. Rather, we just start to “tackle” the problem, and before we know it, we are finding solutions. 

“It Couldn’t Be Done”
By Edgar Albert Guest

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
    But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
    Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
    On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
    That couldn’t be done, and he did it!

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
    At least no one ever has done it;”
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
    And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
    Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
    That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
    There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
    The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
    Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
    That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

The reason we can take this approach to life is because we never do these things alone. The God of heaven and earth has promised to stand with us and give us His strength.

Jeremiah 32:17 ESV
Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

Pray with me:
Heavenly Father, because You are always walking along side us, we can do more than we think we can. Truly, because of Your strength and power in our lives, we can “tackle the thing which cannot be done and do it”. Give us the courage to try and try again. We will be amazed, as we call on You, how much can be accomplished. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Yours because of Him,
Pastor John R. Steward
Senior Pastor
Mount of Olives Church
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