Psalms 78:40-41
40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! 41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
There have been a couple of passages that have been running through my mind lately. This is one of them. Our pastor had used this verse during one of his sermons recently. They were not his text verses but they struck my heart hard. In my heart, I was struck anew with the thought that God can be limited. Wait a minute you say. Isn’t the God we serve Omnipresent (everywhere present at the same time), Omnipotent (All-powerful) and Omniscient (Knowing all things)? Yes. Then, you say, how can God be limited? There’s nothing God can’t do! Yes. I’ve grown up with that belief too yet, I have to admit there have been times things have happened (bad things) that I wondered why God didn’t stop it from happening.
As these verses have been going over and over in my mind, I’ve wondered how that translates to me? Am I limiting God in my life? In order to know that, we need to know what limits God. As I read these verses, I started reading the context (the verses surrounding them), This is an account of God’s people moving through the wilderness. It recounts the many wonderful things God did for them, yet…. They were still prone to complaining. Why?
I believe there was a heart attitude problem. Why would people who had seen God’s provision for them over and over again, complain so much? Heart attitude. They had a refusal to believe that God would provide for them. They knew He could provide but they refused to believe He would in the face of seemingly impossible situations. I was brought face to face with this heart attitude recently as we have incurred some more medical bills.
If you’ve been reading these devotionals very long, you know that financial issues seem to be a struggle for me. When I knew there would be more bills to pay the hospital my heart sunk and I thought, how are we going to pay for these? Then the Spirit of God smote my heart with … “they… tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel.” ouch! My dispirited attitude toward the provision of God was sin! In thinking, how are we going to pay for these bills, I was tempting God. Why?
Since Katie was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, we have seen God provide over and over again. It’s not always been in the timing that we’ve desired but He’s NEVER failed to take care of those things. Furthermore, He’s provided food and clothing for her when it looked impossible for us to provide those things for us. Here I was in the same boat as those children of Israel.
Now let’s go back between 500-600 years and contrast this with the faith of the father of Israel, Abraham. God had promised to give him a seed. He’d also promised to make him the father of many nations. To Abraham at that time, it was an impossible situation because both he and Sarah were “old and well stricken in age”. It was said that “…it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.” Yet, in Romans God said of Abraham, that he “… staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”
You see, Abraham believed God would give him a son. He didn’t really know how God would do that… in fact, he and Sarah both thought God needed their help to do it, but he never once wavered in his belief that God would do what He had promised. Romans says, he was “fully persuaded”.
Why do we have prayers that go unanswered? Why do we often feel that God’s not meeting our needs? Why do we see things happen that we KNOW God could have intervened in and yet He didn’t? Why do we find ourselves in places where we feel God has led us yet, now we don’t hear His voice and feel He’s deserted us? Is it not because we limit God through our heart attitude of unbelief? Is it not because we’re not “fully persuaded that what He has promised, He is able also to perform”?
Do we “say” we believe God verbally… affirm to others yet in our hearts, we’re afraid God won’t work on our behalf…that He doesn’t love us enough to finish what we know He’s started? Are we afraid this is “name it and claim it” theology? It is not. The difference between believing God fulfills His promises and “name it and claim it” theology is: #1, “Name it and claim it” is not Biblical because it focuses on a person’s own desires. #2 The fulfillment of God’s promises always has an outcome based on His purposes for our lives and/or those lives of others’ whom we touch.
If we are guilty of fear of God’s love in our lives, refusal to believe God and/or doubt that He will fulfill His promises to us His children, then we must recognize this as sin and confess it to the Lord who “…is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Then we must ask Him to help us to be “fully persuaded”. God has promised to take care of ALL our needs. God not only is able to perform our needs but He will if we do not limit Him by unconfessed sin.
I wonder when we get to heaven how many times we’ll see that we limited God’s work on our behalf because we’re not “fully persuaded”.
Perhaps you don’t even know God on a personal basis. If you’re asking God to work on your behalf without having gone through the cleansing blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, He can’t hear your requests. If you want God to work on your behalf, you must first recognize and confess that you’re a sinner in need of a Savior. Then you must ask Him to forgive you…. He will. The request, the plea for a Savior is the one prayer from an unbeliever that God ALWAYS hears. If you need to do that, won’t you do it today?
Molly Winter
Col. 1:9-10
My Comments: Ouch! I have so often been afraid God won’t finish the job he has started in my life. I know I have doubted His abiding love for me. “Lord, help me to be fully persuaded that You will accomplish all that You desire in my life and please give me those desires in my heart, so that I want what You want for my life.”
40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! 41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
There have been a couple of passages that have been running through my mind lately. This is one of them. Our pastor had used this verse during one of his sermons recently. They were not his text verses but they struck my heart hard. In my heart, I was struck anew with the thought that God can be limited. Wait a minute you say. Isn’t the God we serve Omnipresent (everywhere present at the same time), Omnipotent (All-powerful) and Omniscient (Knowing all things)? Yes. Then, you say, how can God be limited? There’s nothing God can’t do! Yes. I’ve grown up with that belief too yet, I have to admit there have been times things have happened (bad things) that I wondered why God didn’t stop it from happening.
As these verses have been going over and over in my mind, I’ve wondered how that translates to me? Am I limiting God in my life? In order to know that, we need to know what limits God. As I read these verses, I started reading the context (the verses surrounding them), This is an account of God’s people moving through the wilderness. It recounts the many wonderful things God did for them, yet…. They were still prone to complaining. Why?
I believe there was a heart attitude problem. Why would people who had seen God’s provision for them over and over again, complain so much? Heart attitude. They had a refusal to believe that God would provide for them. They knew He could provide but they refused to believe He would in the face of seemingly impossible situations. I was brought face to face with this heart attitude recently as we have incurred some more medical bills.
If you’ve been reading these devotionals very long, you know that financial issues seem to be a struggle for me. When I knew there would be more bills to pay the hospital my heart sunk and I thought, how are we going to pay for these? Then the Spirit of God smote my heart with … “they… tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel.” ouch! My dispirited attitude toward the provision of God was sin! In thinking, how are we going to pay for these bills, I was tempting God. Why?
Since Katie was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, we have seen God provide over and over again. It’s not always been in the timing that we’ve desired but He’s NEVER failed to take care of those things. Furthermore, He’s provided food and clothing for her when it looked impossible for us to provide those things for us. Here I was in the same boat as those children of Israel.
Now let’s go back between 500-600 years and contrast this with the faith of the father of Israel, Abraham. God had promised to give him a seed. He’d also promised to make him the father of many nations. To Abraham at that time, it was an impossible situation because both he and Sarah were “old and well stricken in age”. It was said that “…it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.” Yet, in Romans God said of Abraham, that he “… staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”
You see, Abraham believed God would give him a son. He didn’t really know how God would do that… in fact, he and Sarah both thought God needed their help to do it, but he never once wavered in his belief that God would do what He had promised. Romans says, he was “fully persuaded”.
Why do we have prayers that go unanswered? Why do we often feel that God’s not meeting our needs? Why do we see things happen that we KNOW God could have intervened in and yet He didn’t? Why do we find ourselves in places where we feel God has led us yet, now we don’t hear His voice and feel He’s deserted us? Is it not because we limit God through our heart attitude of unbelief? Is it not because we’re not “fully persuaded that what He has promised, He is able also to perform”?
Do we “say” we believe God verbally… affirm to others yet in our hearts, we’re afraid God won’t work on our behalf…that He doesn’t love us enough to finish what we know He’s started? Are we afraid this is “name it and claim it” theology? It is not. The difference between believing God fulfills His promises and “name it and claim it” theology is: #1, “Name it and claim it” is not Biblical because it focuses on a person’s own desires. #2 The fulfillment of God’s promises always has an outcome based on His purposes for our lives and/or those lives of others’ whom we touch.
If we are guilty of fear of God’s love in our lives, refusal to believe God and/or doubt that He will fulfill His promises to us His children, then we must recognize this as sin and confess it to the Lord who “…is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Then we must ask Him to help us to be “fully persuaded”. God has promised to take care of ALL our needs. God not only is able to perform our needs but He will if we do not limit Him by unconfessed sin.
I wonder when we get to heaven how many times we’ll see that we limited God’s work on our behalf because we’re not “fully persuaded”.
Perhaps you don’t even know God on a personal basis. If you’re asking God to work on your behalf without having gone through the cleansing blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, He can’t hear your requests. If you want God to work on your behalf, you must first recognize and confess that you’re a sinner in need of a Savior. Then you must ask Him to forgive you…. He will. The request, the plea for a Savior is the one prayer from an unbeliever that God ALWAYS hears. If you need to do that, won’t you do it today?
Molly Winter
Col. 1:9-10
My Comments: Ouch! I have so often been afraid God won’t finish the job he has started in my life. I know I have doubted His abiding love for me. “Lord, help me to be fully persuaded that You will accomplish all that You desire in my life and please give me those desires in my heart, so that I want what You want for my life.”
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