Teen Tuesday: Limiting The Limitless

Written by Pastor Shannon Foote

Limiting the limitless? I know that sounds like an impossible task, but I believe it is something that most of us do on a daily basis!

 I am sure that we can all agree that God can do anything, and that if you or I were to get in a wrestling match with Him neither of us would stand a chance.  The Bible tells us in Matthew 28:18 that God possesses all power.  How then can we, mere mortals, limit the ability of Almighty God to do whatever he decides to do?

Psalms 78:41  “Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.”

We know, based on what this verse says, that it is a possibility; because, the children of Israel did so while they were in the wilderness on their extended journey from Egypt to Canaan.  The Hebrew children, by their actions, caused God’s blessing and provision for them to be held back.  The God of Heaven, who miraculously delivered these people from bondage and has brought them through the Red Sea, is now being forced by those same people to fold back the blessings He so greatly desires to give to them.  Why? God is bound by His Word, and He cannot bless people or answer the prayers of those who are living deliberately contrary to His will. (Matt. 6:33; John 9:31) 

We look at this Bible story and say to ourselves,“I would never do that!  All they had to do is obey God and follow Moses; then everything would have worked out just fine!”  In reality, we have the same tendency in our lives today as the Hebrews did during that time.  We do not always enjoy living by faith, and waiting on the Lord to help us; we would rather just take care of the situation ourselves.  Sadly, this is a common mistake that we make, and in so doing, we limit the limitless power of God in our lives. 

All too often, I believe, good Christian folks will set out to live for God and to keep His commandments, but these well meaning people make this common mistake of maintaining complete control of their lives rather than allowing the Lord to have His rightful place in their lives.  They work hard to do everything just as God would want them to and they try to treat everyone the way they would want to be treated, but they never pass God’s tests!  You see, God created us to depend on Him, and when we attempt to live our lives in our own power we are destined to fail.  He tells us in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”  Through Christ is that part that is often quoted, but rarely lived.

It is a special place for a Christian to have done all that he can do and to have prayed as long as he can pray for a given situation; because, he is about to see the hand of almighty God at work!  I plead with you, my friend, not to make the mistake of taking over at the last second.  You see, when we are in control of our lives we rob ourselves of the powers and abilities of God, and we become guilty of, LIMITING the Limitless!