Putting Limits On A Limitless God
6/25/06
How often do we limit the
Lord Jesus Christ who has no limits!
How
completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none.
A. W. Tozer
Beware in your prayer, above everything, of limiting
God, not only by unbelief, but by assuming that you know what he can and cannot
do.
Andrew Murray
Ps. 78: 40 (Living Bible) Oh,
how often they rebelled against him in those desert years and grieved his
heart. 41Again and again they turned away and tempted God to kill
them, and limited the Holy One of Israel from giving them his blessings.
42They forgot his power and love and how he had rescued them from
their enemies; 43they forgot the plagues he sent upon the Egyptians
in Tanis—44how he turned their rivers into blood so that no one
could drink, 45how he sent vast swarms of flies to fill the land,
and how the frogs had covered all of Egypt!
We limit God by forgetting
what He has done.
We limit God by our unbelief.
We limit God by our
impatience.
We limit God by our lack of
vision.
We limit God by not knowing
His ways.
We limit God in the greatest
way by knowing about Him and really not knowing Him.
What can God do--not only in
you--but with you and through you?
Someone
has well said: “A vision without a task
is a dream; a task without a vision is drudgery; a vision and a task is the
hope of the world.”
and calls them each by name.
5 Great is
our Lord and mighty in power;
his
understanding has no limit.
2
Ki. 3:9 So the king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of
Edom. After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for
themselves or for the animals with them.
10“What!” exclaimed the king of Israel. “Has the LORD
called us three kings together only to hand us over to Moab?”
11But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the
LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD through him?”
An
officer of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used
to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”
12Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the LORD is with him.”
So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
13Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do we have to
do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your
mother.”
“No,”
the king of Israel answered, “because it was the LORD who called us three kings
together to hand us over to Moab.”
14Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD Almighty lives,
whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of
Judah, I would not look at you or even notice you. 15But now bring
me a harpist.”
While
the harpist was playing, the hand of the LORD came upon Elisha 16and
he said, “This is what the LORD says: Make this valley full of ditches. 17For
this is what the LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley
will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will
drink. 18This is an easy thing in the eyes of the LORD;
he will also hand Moab over to you. 19You will overthrow every
fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up
all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones.”
20The next morning, about the time for offering the
sacrifice, there it was—water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land
was filled with water.
Prayer constantly enlarges our horizon and our person.
It draws us out of the narrow limits which our habits, our past, and our whole
personage confine us.
Paul Tournier
Even Moses who saw all the
miracles God performed in Egypt put limitations on God!
Nu.
11:4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites
started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5We remember
the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions
and garlic. 6But now we have lost our appetite; we never see
anything but this manna!”
7The manna was like coriander seed and looked like
resin. 8The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a
handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into
cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. 9When the
dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.
10Moses heard the people of every family wailing, each
at the entrance to his tent. The LORD became exceedingly angry, and Moses was
troubled. 11He asked the LORD, “Why have you brought this trouble on
your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all
these people on me? 12Did I conceive all these people? Did I give
them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an
infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers? 13Where
can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to
eat!’ 14I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too
heavy for me. 15If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to
death right now—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my
own ruin.”
16The LORD said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s
elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have
them come to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17I
will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is
on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the
people so that you will not have to carry it alone.
18“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in
preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The LORD heard you when you
wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the LORD
will give you meat, and you will eat it. 19You will not eat it for
just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 20but for a
whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you
have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying,
“Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”
21But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand
men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ 22Would
they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have
enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”
23The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’S arm too
short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for
you.”
24So Moses went out and told the people what the LORD
had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around
the Tent. 25Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke with him,
and he took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy
elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so
again.
26However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad,
had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out
to the Tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the
camp. 27A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are
prophesying in the camp.”
28Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since
youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”
29But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I
wish that all the LORD’S people were prophets and that the LORD would put his
Spirit on them!” 30Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to
the camp.
31Now a wind went out from the LORD and drove quail in
from the sea. It brought them down all around the camp to about three feet
above the ground, as far as a day’s walk in any direction. 32All
that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail.
No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the
camp. 33But while the meat was still between their teeth and before
it could be consumed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and he
struck them with a severe plague. 34Therefore the place was named
Kibroth Hattaavah (kee-broth hat-ta-a-vah), because there they buried the
people who had craved other food.
Mary, the mother of our Lord
Jesus, did not put limits on what God could do, even though she had reason
to...
Lk.
1:26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in
Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph,
a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28The angel went
to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered
what kind of greeting this might be. 30But the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31You will
be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He
will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will
give him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over
the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am
a virgin?”
35The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be
born will be called£ the Son of God. 36Even Elizabeth your
relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be
barren is in her sixth month. 37For nothing is impossible with God.”
38“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May
it be to me as you have said.”
Listen to what Elizabeth
prophetically said to Mary when she arrived at her house...
39At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in
the hill country of Judea, 40where she entered Zechariah’s home and
greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby
leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42In
a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the
child you will bear! 43But why am I so favored, that the mother of
my Lord should come to me? 44As soon as the sound of your greeting
reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45Blessed
is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be
accomplished!”
Mary did not put any limits
on what God could do--these people did...
Mat.
13:53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54Coming
to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were
amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they
asked. 55“Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name
Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56Aren’t
all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57And
they took offense at him.
But
Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet
without honor.”
58And he did not do many miracles there because of their
lack of faith.
Here’s another man who
questioned Jesus’ ability...
Mk.
9:17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is
possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18Whenever it
seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his
teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but
they could not.”
19“O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long
shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
20So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it
immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled
around, foaming at the mouth.
21Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been
like this?”
“From
childhood,” he answered. 22“It has often thrown him into fire or
water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us
and help us.”
23“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”
24Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe;
help me overcome my unbelief!”
25When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene,
he rebuked the evil£ spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I
command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
These two men did not
question Jesus’ ability...
Mat.
9:27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out,
“Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
28When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him,
and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
“Yes,
Lord,” they replied.
29Then he touched their eyes and said, “According
to your faith will it be done to you”; 30and their sight was
restored.
We limit God by not combining
faith, trust, persistence and determination.
Jos.
17:14 The people of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one
allotment and one portion for an inheritance? We are a numerous people and the
LORD has blessed us abundantly.”
15“If you are so numerous,” Joshua answered, “and if the
hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear
land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites.”
16The people of Joseph replied, “The hill country is not
enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the plain have iron chariots,
both those in Beth Shan and its settlements and those in the Valley of
Jezreel.”
17But Joshua said to the house of Joseph—to Ephraim and
Manasseh—“You are numerous and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment
18but the forested hill country as well. Clear it, and its farthest
limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have iron chariots and though they
are strong, you can drive them out.”
Look what happens when faith,
trust, persistence and determination is put together...
Lk.
18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should
always pray and not give up. 2He said: “In a certain town there was
a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3And there was a
widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice
against my adversary.’
4“For some time he refused. But finally he said to
himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 5yet
because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so
that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’”
6And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge
says. 7And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who
cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8I tell
you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of
Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Mat.
15:21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22A
Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of
David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from
demon-possession.”
23Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to
him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of
Israel.”
25The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!”
she said.
26He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s
bread and toss it to their dogs.”
27“Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from their masters’ table.”
28Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith!
Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.