Tuesday, July 14, 2009

A Fluke in the System


“If all you ever attempt is that which you know you can do or have the resources for, how will you ever discover what He can do?” My Jesus is . . . Everything! by Anne Graham Lotz

Boy, we do like our comfort zones don’t we! They are so easy to get in to and easy to stay in once we find ourselves there. We justify our little corner as a place where we are able to do things well and therefore we are comfortable. We think there is no need to step outside of that area only to mess things up and make a fool of ourselves. Why go out of our way to prove to the world something we already knew that we were incapable of accomplishing anything more than what we already have.

Why not perfect what we do best? It sounds very logical. Isn’t that what our parents always taught us as they encouraged us to find what we like to do and do it to the best of our abilities? Yes… BUT…..oh dear the “B” word. Now bear with me…..But there is one flaw in the program that we often overlook. A fluke in the system and that is the fact that we don’t always realize just what we are capable of doing because we stop the minute we set foot in our comfort zone. We fail to discover what our best is because we are searching for what “WE” are capable of being not what God is capable of doing through us. It’s almost like we are basing it off the amount of faith we have in ourselves instead of how much we should have in God.

Imagine the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 if those who were listed had stopped where they were comfortable and never discovered what they were competent of doing through God. You can bet Moses was very comfortable where he was in life but God wanted to take him further. It was probably a good thing that God didn’t tell him ahead of time the part about raising his hand and parting a big sea where thousands of people would walk through it. If He had Moses might have crawled back in his corner and never came out again.

What about Noah? If he had only attempted to accomplish what he knew he could do and had the resources for he might have been lucky to come out with a sailboat the size the family hamster could fit on. Daniel didn’t hop in the lions den pounding on his chest like Tarzan knowing he could take on them there lions. No he went in, in faith knowing what God was able to do through Him.

All the people listed in the Hall of Faith and many who were not mentioned like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego wound up where they were because they had faith in the right person, God. The kind of faith that brought them through things they possibly never dreamed of doing. There was no such thing as a “comfort zone” where they had the choice to stop and stay and try to perfect their best from the corner stool they chose to sit upon.

Right after Moses told the Israelites at the bank of the sea, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Ex 14:14 NIV) God went on to say, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” (Exodus 14:15) “Move on? Where?” They had no idea what they were capable of doing as all they could see was the Egyptians closing in on them from the rear and the waters of the sea in front of them.

We shouldn’t need to see the whole playbook. The step by step moves God has planned for us. Many of the people in the Hall of Faith died not having received the promises but were able to see them from afar. They had faith in the right person and we can too. We are the ones that can hang the plaque with our name on it in the Hall of Faith by the actions we take, the trust we instill in God, and the faith we put in His capabilities instead of our own.

We’d be surprise what we are capable of doing when God is our guide instead of our faith in ourselves and what we think we are capable of doing. There is no fluke in the system when the system we use is God.


Praise the Lord we get to run off of His resources instead of waiting for a stockpile of our own.



Our host this week is Nina at her site, Mama’s Little Treasures just swing on over there and join the fun, don’t delay!

6 comments:

Miriam Pauline said...

Karen thank you for speaking such powerful truth today. This really blessed me.

Denise J. Hughes said...

"It’s almost like we are basing it off the amount of faith we have in ourselves instead of how much we should have in God."

Amen! Too often we move forward with the confidence we have in our own abilities rather than God's. God truly wants us to rely on Him. Thank you for sharing today.

Blessings,
Denise Hughes :)

Vintage Whimsy Studio said...

Hi Karen - thanks for your post for IOW this week. I'm so glad to see that this quote seemed inspire several bloggers to share their own perspective . .. . have a wonderful Tuesday! Nina

Debbie Petras said...

Wow Karen we do like our comfort zones, don't we? We are thinking alike again. I loved the examples you gave to illustrate how people had to step out of their comfort zones so God could work in and through them. And best of all, God then gets the glory.

Denise said...

Amen, lovely post.

Tami said...

Praise the Lord we get to run off of His resources instead of waiting for a stockpile of our own.

Amen, sister! I'm afraid my pile is pretty puny next to His!