Why is it that cats love jumping in boxes as you are
trying to pack them? Friday evening I was sorting through my Christmas tree
ornaments. At first Symba was off napping somewhere, but just as I began
wrapping the ornaments he suddenly appeared on the dining room table pouncing
on the tissue paper, pawing at enticing dangly things, and delicately tip-toeing
among the array of tempting items. No amount of “shooing” or scolding could
deter him as he hopped into one box and proudly claimed it. As you can see, he
had every intention of staying there! It was a challenge but boxes are stored
away until next Christmas.
In my quiet times with the Lord this week, I have been considering
how I might be limiting God’s working in my life because of some of my own
thinking. The catch phrase, “Don’t put God in a box” came to my mind and I
began to reflect on what that really means.
We often hear people say, and I’ve said it myself, “I don’t
want to limit God”. Really though, I can’t limit God or put Him in a box. The
apostle Paul struggled with this too and he wrote, “Oh, how great are God’s
riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His
decisions and His ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough
to give Him advice? And who has given Him so much that He needs to pay it back?
For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His
glory. All glory to Him forever! Amen.” (Romans 11:33-36, NLT)
Perhaps the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, marveled
at God’s hand, “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has
planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole
scope of God's work from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NLT)
As Job’s friends tried to comfort him in the midst of his
incomprehensive suffering, Eliphaz said of God, “He does great things too
marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles.” (Job 5:9, NLT) Zophar
wondered, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the
Almighty?” (11:7, NIV) Elihu remarked, “The Almighty is beyond our reach and
exalted in power…” (37:23, NIV)
King David praised God with the words, “Great is the Lord!
He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure His greatness.” (Psalm 145:3,
NLT) Another psalmist wrote, “Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases
Him." (115:3) God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah saying, “I am the Lord, the God
of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (32:27, NIV) Jesus Christ
testified to God’s unlimited power when He addressed His disciples regarding
salvation, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is
possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
God is all-powerful and can do anything He desires…when
He wants…how He chooses. When I “limit” God or try to box Him in, what I am
really doing is limiting my own ability to see what He is doing, where, when,
and how. It is my finite thinking, my preconceived ideas, my beliefs, my
interpretations, my biases, my background and upbringing, my vulnerability to
traditional viewpoints that may contradict biblical truths, my allowance of Christian
legalism to shape my vision of how God shows His hand in my life and the world.
God is always working in whatever ways and means He
chooses, but how open are my mind and spirit to actually perceive it? Sometimes
I don’t see God’s hand because I simply don’t want to, because I have been
taught He doesn’t work in that way anymore, or that it was only for a
particular time or purpose. Who am I to try and manipulate the limitless
resources at God’s disposal? Maybe when I attempt to do this I actually do
hinder God from what He desires to do in and through me! I wonder how many
times I have missed out on an opportunity for God to use me in doing something
exceptional and beyond what my limited understanding permits?
When Job had enough of his friends’ “advice” God
intervened and broke His silence. He wanted Job to listen to Him above all
others and remind Job of the Almighty’s surpassing greatness. In humility of
spirit Job replied, “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you.
You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I –
and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful
for me. You said, ‘Listen and I will speak!’...I had only heard about you
before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” (42:2-5, NLT)
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty
power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or
think.” (Ephesians 3:20, NLT)
Until next Sunday,
Kathy