He Gives and Takes Away

Over the years in ministry the most difficult circumstances have often been in regard to children. Seeing young children sick or die are especially hard. One that often we overlook are the scores of women who long to be mothers but their arms are still empty.

At times there are medical explanations and sometimes there's no explanation. Regardless, it doesn't change the heartache and longing in the heart of a woman who cannot conceive.

The Bible is dotted with the stories of women who found themselves childless. Sarai, Hannah, Rachel, Elizabeth, and others found their situation bitter and painful. A married woman who could not have children was viewed scornfully and even as one cursed by God.

Manoah was married to a woman who was unable to conceive. Yet God in his upper story was completely aware of this and would work through this not only to give her a son, but to give Israel a deliverer. And so it was that Samson was born and grew to be a man of incredible strength and courage, on whom the Spirit of the Lord rested powerfully.

The full story of Samson is quite tragic, reflecting a man who was often far more intent on living out his own desires than living out the will of God. But the beauty of his life was that he was a miracle. He was born to a father and mother who had probably come to think they may never have a child. And in spite of Samson's disobedience, God worked to deliver His people though it did not happen without Samson losing his power, his sight, his freedom, and ultimately his life.

God is the One who gives when the world has no power to give. He is the One who provides when there's no conceivable way to make it happen. Yet He is also the One who takes away, sometimes without explanation. Sometimes He withholds when we expected Him to pour it out on us.

God's power to give Manoah and his wife a child was a foretaste of His power to come on Mary so that she conceived to give birth to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. God gave the world His Son. And God would take His Son from the world by nailing Him to the cross. But praise God that we know both why He gave and why He took away. As a result, we today are able to celebrate how God rescued us from sin and death by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Take a Daniel moment:

1. Praise God that He both gives and takes away.
2. Lift up to Him your request for what you need and the desires of your heart.
3. Pray that God would give you a content heart with what He gives, what He withholds, and what He takes away.
4. Ask God to demonstrate His power to open wombs, forgive sin, raise the dead, provide for every need in your life and the lives of those you know are in need.

Um, really God?

Growing up I remember hearing and singing a song in which there was a line by which I've often been encouraged. It simply says, "Little is much when God is in it."

Isn't that the truth of Jesus feeding the multitude? The crowd of 5,000 men (and perhaps double or triple counting women and children) were hungry. The disciples had no food to give. Philip said there were so many people that 200 days worth of wages couldn't buy enough for each person just to get a little.

But there was a boy who had a small lunch. It wasn't much. It would have been a sufficient meal for himself, but not for this large crowd. His meager lunch consisted of 5 small loaves of bread and two fish. To every onlooker this little amount would not do. Yet little is much when God is in it. That small lunch in the hands of Jesus not only fed the entire crowd of thousands, not only fed them all they wanted, but it also provided a leftover that was at least twelve times larger than that with which He started.

Gideon also learned that little is much when God is in it. In yesterday's post I talked about God choosing Gideon to be His instrument of redemption for Israel.  Gideon has 32,000 men in his army. And then God begins to make cuts to the team. In one swoop, 22,000 men left and went home. Of the ten thousand remaining, God made another cut that reduced the army from 10,000 to 300.

At this moment is when I stop and say, "Um, really God?"

God didn't need Gideon's numbers. God didn't rely on Gideon or his army's power. Little is much when God is in it. And that only magnifies the great work He does even more, since no man or woman can take the credit for it.

God said, "You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, 'My own strength has saved me.'"

The wisdom of God often uses the weak, feeble, small, foolish, and insignificant to the world. He is able to accomplish God-sized tasks with small objects and people.

Take a Daniel moment:

1. Praise God for His wisdom that cuts against the wisdom of men.
2. Ask God for faith to follow Him when His numbers don't match ours.
3. Pray for Refuge Church to be like Gideon's 300; empowered by God for a great work regardless of size.
4. Surrender yourself to be one of Gideon's 300 that God will use to display and declare His glory and good news.

Wisdom for Living

We live with limited sight. I cannot see the motivation with which another individual performs a certain action. I do not know all the circumstances in a given situation ( regardless of how much I do know). I am unable to see the past completely or know the future.

I need a wisdom that is far above me. I am desperate for One who sees all things outside of time limitations. Hearing from One who knows the hearts of all men, seeing their motivation and perceiving their thoughts rather than just knowing what they do, is of great value. 

God sits high above the heavens. He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. He perceives our words before they cross our lips. God sees our rising and lying down before they even occur. And not just for us, but of all the world. He knows all things from before they began. He has determined the end of all things and the path that leads to that point.

God is not just a God of knowledge. He is the God of all wisdom. He knows the exact word to speak and deed to perform by knowing all things. 

James warned that living by the wisdom of this earth leads to strife, bitterness, lust, and murder (and that's just among believers - James 3:13-4:2). Joshua found that when he did not consult God regarding the men who claimed to come from afar that he entered into a peace treaty with men from a nation God intended the Israelites to remove from the land of Canaan.

Every decision of our lives should be governed by the wisdom that comes from above. God has expressed this wisdom and His will through His words in Scripture. He also gives to His followers the Spirit of God to convict us of sin (because we lived by our own wisdom and desires) and guide us into all truth (to know and live by the wisdom of God).

Take a Daniel moment:

1.  Praise God that He is the all-wise God.

2.  Ask for the wisdom from above--pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere.

3.  Pray for God to lead you to live your life in every way by the wisdom of God.

This Sounds Crazy

Have you ever believed God wanted you to do something that didn't make sense or seemed like an odd approach? It's as if He says, "This is God and I know this sounds crazy, but I want you to do ____________ or I want you to do ______________ this way."

I think these times are for two reasons: One is to lead us to exercise faith in God and the other to leave us with no room to take the credit.

The people of Israel crossed the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land. The first battle to be waged was against the mighty city and well-fortified city of Jericho. From the beginning, God promised He would give them the land by delivering enemy after enemy into the Israelites' hands. God tells Joshua that He had already delivered Jericho into his hands with the king and fighting men.

Do we trust what God has already promised? Do we ask for things believing and giving thanks that it is already done?

It was true that God had already given the city into the hands of Joshua and Israel. What came next was merely the proof and demonstration of this. But it would require complete trust and faith. God said, "March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days….On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in."

Would you do this? This was not and is not the way battles take place. This is not the way we plan to conquer cities and defeat our enemies.

Without faith in God, this seems absurd. Who would do this? How can this work? I've never done it like this before! 

With faith in God, there's no debate. God's wisdom exceeds my own by far. God's is greater than my plans and power. When He gives a direction, there's no other way to go. To go another way is disobedience and will not accomplish His will.

Would you do it? Would you tell a million people thirsting for water to gather around for the water that is going to come as you speak to the rock? Would you lead a whole nation to walk around a city promising them its walls would fall after the seventh time on the seventh day? Would you walk to the sea and catch a fish because you would find the coin to pay taxes in its mouth?

Obedience to Jesus may look crazy. But have the faith to obey places us in the position to see His work of power. What would you do? What will you do?

Take a Daniel moment:

1. Give thanks that God doesn't work within the power and confines of humanity's limitations.
2. Ask God to enlarge your faith to do what He asks in the way He leads you.
3. Pray that God will allow you to see His mighty work of power and the beauty of His glory as you follow His leading (whenever, wherever, and however He leads).