I must admit whenever I pray about something or I am
waiting for God to respond to one of my requests, before I give God a chance to
work, I already have come-up with several ways He would answer me. You can say
I put God in a “box,” meaning I limit what He can do by human thinking and
reasoning.
It can be easier to put God in a neat, little box because
then we might have some indication of what God might do. I don’t know about
you, but I am not a fan of surprises. I would like to know when something is
going to happen. The same can be true in our relationship with God, we can have
a false sense of security and peace that if we just knew how God would respond we
could get on with our lives and enjoy it.
Trusting God means allowing Him to respond in ways
there is no way we could have figured it out. When we pray, instead of guessing
how God will come through, we should expect God to work impossibilities in the
most difficult of our circumstances. Some relationships and circumstances in
our lives seem “dead,” meaning no way to resurrect any life.
Maybe we need a reminder that the God we serve died,
was buried and was risen to life three days later. What about when God parted
the Red Sea for Moses and the Israelites to cross through and when their
enemies tried to cross over, He caused the sea not to be parted any longer, and
their enemies drowned. Remember the story of Joseph and his brothers, Joseph
was placed in a pit and sold to slaves by his brothers, he was thrown in prison,
and eventually he ruled in Pharaoh’s palace and the land of Egypt. Then there’s
David who not only fought a giant but won the fight by his slingshot. From the
above situations you can see God does not work in a neat and tidy box, His ways
are usually way out of the box.
God is not limited like we are. Start expecting God to
do the impossible and stop trying to figure out how God will respond to your
prayers. Yes, we may desire God to answer our prayers in a certain way, but
what if we started expecting God to go beyond what we expect? We can get
impatient when God does not act quickly, and believe He either is not going to
come through or we will take matters into our own hands. God’s time is certainly
not our time. We have to give time for His plan to unfold.
What
if whatever areas in our lives have died to the idea that God is the God of the
impossible and He can do exceedingly above and beyond all that we can imagine, gets
renewed again? Sometimes we can endure such trauma, headache
and seemingly endless unanswered prayers that we stop believing God is the God
of the impossible. We then settle for the “god of mediocracy,” meaning we stop
looking for God to show Himself strong and mighty and expect him to give us “leftovers.”
How can you go wrong if you expect God to come through in mighty ways? Yes, it
is possible God will not come through the way you thought He would, but what
would happen if you surrender what you wanted for God’s ultimate plan? God promises to work all things out for good
for those that love Him and are called according to His purposes. Romans 8:28. Just
like with Joseph and his brothers, initially his life was turning out pretty
poorly by being sold to slaves by his brothers, but after 22 years of being separated
from his father and brothers he was united with them again.
Reflect
and mediate on this scripture: Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or
imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20, NIV
God
can do anything, you know-far more than you could ever imagine or guess or
request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by
working within us, His Spirit deeply and gently within us. Ephesians 3:20,
Message
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