Sometimes when I am watching sport on TV the commentators will refer to a player and say, ‘He, or she, has been doing the heavy lifting’. What they mean is that that particular player is doing the most demanding part of the work, or the work that is requiring the most effort, on behalf of their team.
In the Old Testament book of Isaiah there is a theme that runs consistently throughout. Isaiah repeatedly draws a contrast between idols and the one true and living God. One example of this is in Chapter 46. In verses 6-7, Isaiah says …
Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it. They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Even though one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles.
New International Version – UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
As in other places in Isaiah, the prophet’s words are dripping with irony and mockery. In false worship (idolatry), it is the worshipper that ends up doing all of the heavy lifting.
By way of contrast, God says to his people through the prophet …
Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel,
you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born.
Even to your old age and grey hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. (verses 3-4).
New International Version – UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
For the believer, it is the Lord God who does the heavy lifting. What a wonderful and relieving truth!
Do you know God in this way – as the One who has made you and rescued you; as the One who carries and sustains you?