“He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.”

I listened as it was described to me the pains and troubles of working on a slant. The context was working outside on the land where the ground is on a hill, on a slant. The same work that can be done on the flat and level can take 30-40% more time when you have to work on a slant and even the best of the best, the strongest of the strong, and the most able, have to call it quits early when they are working on a slant. As I listened to this, I could feel my hamstrings, my back, and my neck saying to me, “don’t you even try it”. For me, manual labor is not easy anyway, and like most of us, I know the feeling of being bent over the garden and yard for a day and how I feel the next day. Thinking about doing that on an incline where it is not only strength but also balance and the use of other muscles to keep upright and stable, makes me sore just to think about it. As I listened, I also heard a metaphor for how we all are sometimes asked to work. We may not have to go and clear a hill of weeds or brush, but we many times are asked to work on a slant within our own jobs where we are pushed, strained, and stretched to a point we don’t think we can go on. The slant may be an unfair circumstance, or lack of resources, or lack of direction, or not enough time, or not cooperative co-workers. The slant can come at us in many different ways. And regardless, we mush react, act and overcome. But after too many hours on the slant we are just like the physical laborer, we have to call it quits because we don’t have any more in the tank to give.

As believers, we have someone to call on to help us level the land in front of us. God gives us His promises that He will be a rock, a foundation, a steady place in the midst of the not level and shaky. We read in Psalm 62:2; “He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.” God has built His and our fortress on His rock, which is as level and workable as any we could ever imagine. When we get ourselves caught on the slant and can’t keep our balance or are losing our strength to lean up and into the hill, crawl up on His rock to find that balance and steady footing you need. Today, you may feel like you are working on a slant, and maybe have been for a long time. Know this, God does not want you to fall down any incline. He just wants you to stop looking for the level ground on your own. As soon as you allow him to give you your footing, the field will level and you will find yourself on steady ground once again. Because of this promise, don’t ever let the slant get you down!

Reference: Psalm 62:2 (New Living Translation)