When You Come to the End of You

On Sunday, Pastor Lance spoke of our partnership with God.  He told us how God chose to limit his unlimited power in order to partner with man here on the earth to fulfill the will of God.  We do what we can do in the natural, as we are natural beings, and God takes it from there and does what only God can do – the supernatural.  However, it is our faith in God’s ability and willingness to do the supernatural that we step out in the natural to do our part. 

All throughout the Bible we read of God’s miraculous moments with man, moving in the supernatural in ways only God can move.  We are drawn to these stories in amazement, fascinated by the wonders of our God.  But how often do we put ourselves in the shoes of those standing in the miracles and wonders of God and ask ourselves, “how did they get there?”  We genuinely want to see God do great and mighty things, but we have no idea how that could ever happen in our lives.

I have one answer.  As Lance said on Sunday, when you come to the end of you.  When you do all that God has asked you to do, and when you do it all in faith and trust that God will do His part, when you stop doubting, questioning, wondering, and begin to believe with all your heart, you will see amazing and wonderful things.

Noah had to build the ark before ever seeing one drop of rain. Joshua had to march around a city 7 seven days before ever seeing one brick fall. Abraham had to leave his father’s home, leave the land and people he loved, without any knowledge of where he was going, before ever setting his eyes on the land God promised him.  Moses had to lift his staff before even one drop of water began to part, and Peter had to throw down his nets after a night of no catch before one fish would jump into the net. 

Our God is a great and mighty God.  Time after time we read of these miracles and wonders, and yet I wonder if we have counted the cost.  Some were immediate, some took days, and others took years.  Years of faith, trust, and believing God.  It’s a lot faster to read that something took years to see God move than it is to live it out, and wait for God to move and do His part.

Matthew 22:29 Jesus says something so powerful, and yet it can so easily be read over and missed.  He answers the Sadducees as they question him in regard to marriage and He says, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.”  And then in Acts 13:27, Paul stands up in the synagogue and addresses the men of Israel and all that fear God and says, “The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath.” (NLT)

We can see in these two scriptures a common theme, the people of God neither knew God or His power, and therefore not only were they mistaken in their thinking, but because they didn’t know Him, even though the prophets spoke of Him every Sabbath in their own synagogues, they actually fulfilled the prophecy of condemning Jesus to death. 

How can we trust a God we don’t know? How can we believe a God we don’t know? How can we have faith in a God we don’t know? 

Jesus is spoken of every Sunday in churches throughout the world, just as He was spoken of in the synagogues every Sabbath. And, just as sitting in the synagogue and listening to the prophets words foretelling of the coming Messiah week after week didn’t bring understanding, knowledge, or wisdom to the Jews, it is not our church attendance that that will save us from making the same mistake.  It is our desire to know Him; to passionately pursue Him and choosing to believe His Word above anything else in this world, that will allow us to walk in partnership with Him.

Let’s make it our endeavor to know Him, not just know of Him.  I pray we wouldn’t inadvertently fulfill the prophecies found in 2 Timothy 3 that say, “You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times.  For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.  They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.”

God desires to partner with us, just has he has since the beginning. We will spend hours upon hours, and years of our lives to grow in knowledge of the things of this world.  What if we were just as determined to do the same with God?  How much would we grow in our wisdom and knowledge of Him if we passionately pursued relationship with Him, His Word and His power?  He is God over all, creator of the universe, the One who spoke the world into existence, and the One by whom all things exist!  Our hearts yearn for Him, and everything we could possibly need is found in Him! 

Let’s fix our eyes on Him as all those we read about in Hebrews 11 did, and diligently do our part, anxious to watch God do His.  If we took the time to know the Word, and ultimately to know Him, how much more would we trust Him and be willing to step out and do our part, believing He will faithfully do His. He is waiting for us to do our part, to come to the end of us, not as in we’ve tried all that we can do and now we give up and it’s just up to God – but the end of us – faithfully doing all that we can in the natural, walking and moving with Him in every step, declaring the goodness of our God, and then letting hope consume our thoughts and words, knowing that God can take it from there. It’s a perspective change, and a significant one. 

Hebrews 11:6 – But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
 
Quinn Pruett