You would think it would go without saying. You would think that looking around at the world God made would make it obvious. It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. Jer 10:12. If God can do that, certainly his power is endless. Nothing is too big for it to handle, and it will never run out.
So why have I heard on more than one occasion, “I know people who have it worse than I do, so I try not to bother God with my piddling little problems”? It’s almost like they think they will cause someone else not to get the help they deserve if God helps them too. It’s almost like they think God’s power could actually run out. Let’s review a few scriptures.
O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Deut 3:24
I am the Lord! There is nothing too difficult for me, Gen 18:14.
Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel--he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God! Psa 68:35
And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, Eph 1:19,20.
Did you catch that last one? “The immeasurable greatness of his power.” There is another endless supply if ever I heard it. Later in the same epistle Paul adds, to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, 3:20. Sounds like Paul agrees with those messengers who promised Abraham and Sarah a son at their advanced age. Nothing is too hard for God.
What was Jesus always telling those apostles when they hit a snag? “O ye of little faith.” Maybe that’s our problem too. By not asking God for the hard things, we aren’t making it easier for Him, we are making it easier for us! If I don’t get a “No”, I won’t be disappointed and my faith will not be challenged. I won’t have to deal with finding the lesson I am supposed to learn from having to deal with a trial. I won’t have to change and grow. That is what’s too hard, not the thing we ask of God.
Paul says in 2 Cor 13:4, For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but…we will live with him by the power of God. The same power that raised Christ from the dead, helps us live a godly life. If we sin, it is because we are refusing the only power that can make it possible. It is a choice on our part, not on his. He is more than happy to help us. And that leads us right back to our first endless supply—grace. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work, 2 Cor 9:8. The good you can do is endless, but only when you trust that His endless power can supply you with an endless amount of grace to accomplish it.
You don’t need to make excuses for God. You don’t need to protect him from a possible failure. Job said it best, when he recognized that even with all the amazing things in the world that testify to the power of God, we have only seen a tiny bit of what is available. By his power he churned up the sea…By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him. Who then can understand the thunder of his power? Job 26:12-14.
God’s power is endless. It will never run out. Now go out there and live like you believe it.
…that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, 1 Cor 2:5.
Dene Ward
So why have I heard on more than one occasion, “I know people who have it worse than I do, so I try not to bother God with my piddling little problems”? It’s almost like they think they will cause someone else not to get the help they deserve if God helps them too. It’s almost like they think God’s power could actually run out. Let’s review a few scriptures.
O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Deut 3:24
I am the Lord! There is nothing too difficult for me, Gen 18:14.
Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel--he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God! Psa 68:35
And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, Eph 1:19,20.
Did you catch that last one? “The immeasurable greatness of his power.” There is another endless supply if ever I heard it. Later in the same epistle Paul adds, to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, 3:20. Sounds like Paul agrees with those messengers who promised Abraham and Sarah a son at their advanced age. Nothing is too hard for God.
What was Jesus always telling those apostles when they hit a snag? “O ye of little faith.” Maybe that’s our problem too. By not asking God for the hard things, we aren’t making it easier for Him, we are making it easier for us! If I don’t get a “No”, I won’t be disappointed and my faith will not be challenged. I won’t have to deal with finding the lesson I am supposed to learn from having to deal with a trial. I won’t have to change and grow. That is what’s too hard, not the thing we ask of God.
Paul says in 2 Cor 13:4, For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but…we will live with him by the power of God. The same power that raised Christ from the dead, helps us live a godly life. If we sin, it is because we are refusing the only power that can make it possible. It is a choice on our part, not on his. He is more than happy to help us. And that leads us right back to our first endless supply—grace. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work, 2 Cor 9:8. The good you can do is endless, but only when you trust that His endless power can supply you with an endless amount of grace to accomplish it.
You don’t need to make excuses for God. You don’t need to protect him from a possible failure. Job said it best, when he recognized that even with all the amazing things in the world that testify to the power of God, we have only seen a tiny bit of what is available. By his power he churned up the sea…By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him. Who then can understand the thunder of his power? Job 26:12-14.
God’s power is endless. It will never run out. Now go out there and live like you believe it.
…that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, 1 Cor 2:5.
Dene Ward
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