Tuesday, July 29, 2014

The God is This, but Not of That!

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Because the Arameans think the LORD is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the LORD’” 1 Kings 20:28.

It was all I had ever wanted in life…to be a mommy and raise my little children. From the time I first cradled them in my arms and every day ...after, I spent my time arranging and orchestrating their days from beginning to end. Growing up in a Christian family, I assigned God the usual power in my life …the power of keeping us safe…the power of good health…the power of providing the financial aspects of our home. I was confident that God was the giver and lover of my family…the god of the hills. But when my daughter began running away and experimenting with drugs I entered a deep and dark valley where I failed to assign God His appropriate power. I knew He was a God of the calm but I failed to see Him with enough power to save in the dark suffering. I never gave God my complete surrender when dealing with my children. And, like most things - what we hold on to too tightly is exactly where God will frustrate our lives.

We cannot pick and choose the areas in our life where we will allow God to reign. We cannot live life trusting God for eternity but not trusting Him for our daily life. We cannot give Him our confidence over our health but not over our finances. When there are things we deem off limits to God, He will arrange circumstances showing Himself sovereign over that situation. When we see Him for who He really is…God over our children’s lives…God over our finances…God over our relationships…God over every health issue…then we will see the mighty hand of God moving in every detail of our life. It is at that moment we will truly understand just how big our God is.

Our Father is not some egotistical God who is on a power trip wanting us to see His flexing spiritual muscles. It is all about His love, faithfulness and promises for His children. His motivation for showing us His power is to give us healing from the past, encouragement for the day, and hope for the future. He wants us to be confident in every situation that He has the power to rescue, to transform and to deliver. When we really understand the enormity of God’s power we move through our battles with complete confidence in victory.

May we look back at any point in our lives and proclaim Joshua 24:17: ‘He protected us on our entire journey among all the nations through which we traveled.’

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