Beyond Limit

“Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm.  There is nothing too hard for you.” Jeremiah 32:17

“But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  Matthew 19:26

If we look closely, I think we will find that many of our thoughts and therefore actions limit God.  From big to small things it is easy in our humanness to only see our circumstances and quickly resign to the fact that there is only one option, when with God’s limitless resources there are very well many options and ways that He could work and wants to work in our lives.  We think we are limited by our lack of this and that- our time, our resources, the people in our life, our addictions or repeated failures…What limits do you put on yourself and your circumstances?  Where is our cynicism and where have we given up?

When my kids and I spent some time in Costa Rica 2 years ago, God really used it to reveal the ways I limit God and that WE easily limit God here in America.  One of my favorite memories was the opportunity to go into different neighborhoods in the slums in Costa Rica where no one else would go.  Our fearless leader, Ronald, who lived in Costa Rica led the way and maybe he wasn’t so “fearless”, but rather choosing to walk in faith and follow the God who had freed him and restored his life in miraculous ways.  In stepping out of his comfort zone and his lack of resources, God has used him to provide care for hundreds of people in Costa Rica.  We went to these neighborhoods with coolers full of food- one cooler full of spaghetti noodles, one full of rice and beans….and so on.  The food was abundant and did not run out.  After the gift of being able to feed these people on the streets we were then on our way to the home of the woman who had prepared this food.  I was not prepared for what I was about to see.  At the door a humble kind woman, Jeanette, greeted us with all graciousness and joy beaming from her face.  We proceeded to enter the TINY little wooden shack hoisted up on stilts, with 2 tiny plug- in burners in the back of her small little kitchen.  I thought it was a wonder that the whole house didn’t immediately slide down the hill and into the ravine when we entered it, but it was in that same house that Jeanette alone had prepared the food to feed the 600 people that day!  And not only did she prepare food there, but that place had ALL the makings of a true home.  Indeed she did not need any place large, spacious, comfortable, but what she had she gave- her time, the gift of opening her doors to us and her gracious loving spirit.

I was extremely humbled and God used this to make me aware of all the ways I limit Him!   So what is it today for us?  What area can God bring life to that has been dead for years?  Or what doors could He possibly open that we have deemed shut for good?  What healing can He bring to areas of our life that seem destroyed, ruined, damaged goods?   What are we waiting for?

May we come to Him today and each day on our journey.  What is door #3 that He might have for us?  Regardless of the outcome our encounter with Him and the intimacy we enjoy is what makes us truly rich.

“And now, Lord, what do I wait for?  My hope is in You.” Psalm 39:7

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory…throughout all ages…Amen.”  Ephesians 3:20