“Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Is there any limit to my power?’”
The Israelite’s were getting ready for a BBQ. After complaining for the umpteenth time that they had it SO good while they were slaves in Egypt, they began complaining that they wanted meat to eat. God had provided an infinite supply of manna but, as is the case so often with us, they wanted more. So they started crying out for meat. God in his goodness answered their cry by telling Moses they would have meat to eat, so much in fact that they would become sick of it.
Moses, always taking the logical approach questioned, “But there are 600,000 soldiers here with me and you promise them meat for a whole month? Even if we butchered all of our flocks and herds would that satisfy them?” Numbers 11:21-2
God responds, as I feel He so often does in our lives, “Is there any limit to my power?” Verse 11:23
So often we define Gods might by our circumstance. So many times in my life I’ve questioned what God is doing or why he’s allowed a certain situation into my life. I’ve thought, “I’m on track, I’m doing the right things, why this? Why now?”
The answer can be found all throughout scripture. Proverbs 16:9 offers “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps” and Isaiah 55:8-9 says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
He paints countless pictures throughout scripture that His plan is different from ours yet along the way, when the road we’re on seems to veer off the course that we had in mind, we go into meltdown. Maybe not meltdown but we easily become discouraged and start looking for answers or a way to steer it back on course.
In the last year God has blessed me with countless opportunities that I only ever dreamed about and yet even my being here is evidence that MY ways are not His ways. I’ve thought and planned out my move to southern California and what that would look like for nearly a decade and after spending over a year here, it’s safe to say it hasn’t gone anything like I planned. It’s been better than expected on every front, but very different.
As I walk through life I hit those moments where, for a time, the future seems a bit foggy. In those moments I so often find myself asking God “what’s the deal?” I feel like I’m here, on track, and while I’ve had a host of great experiences, I find myself with no clear direction on how to proceed. That’s frustrating. Even when I graduated from high school, while college wasn’t my first choice, I was confident that college was the next step God wanted me to take. Likewise, after graduating from college, returning to Dufur and working in a bank was far from the top of my list, however God gave me a peace about it and I returned confidently knowing that this was the next step He had for me.
Even when the next step isn’t necessarily the one you want, there is a peace in knowing that God is calling you in a specific direction. You can rest knowing that this is His will and He has some reason to lead you there.
Then come the times He asks us to walk by faith. Blind faith at that. He told Abraham, “Go to the land I will show you.” (Gen 12:1) He offered no direction only a promise, “I will cause you to become the father of a great nation.”(12:2) And Abraham went.
It’s challenging to walk by faith even when you’ve seen God provide, guide and direct countless times before. Perhaps that’s just a reminder of our own depravity and our need for God in every area of our lives. I’m frustrated with myself that I can be so quick to claim Gods promise of a life of abundance and then question his sovereignty at the first hint of trouble.
That just proves the depravity of my human state and all the more declares my need to be dependent on him. Regardless of my situation, it comes in knowing Him, reading His word and growing in my own relationship with Him, through trials, circumstances and times where there’s no end in sight. It is then that “His strength is made perfect in my weakness.”
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