Escaping the Boundaries of Human Limitations

Dear friends,
I hope you are well this morning. I woke up this morning thinking about God's calling me into the ministry years ago. As a good many of you know, when God called me, I ran. I was a timid individual who found it difficult to stand before groups. I ,basically, told the Lord I could not do it and ran for ten years. As a broken man at the end of those ten years, "I heard the Lord say, you were right all along; you can't do it, but faithful am I Who calls Who will also do it." This morning as I thought on these things, I began to think about the response of those in scripture to the call of God on their lives. Some of their experiences were not that far removed from my own. I want to look at a few of those this morning. Maybe someone out there in cyberspace is wrestling with a call from God.

Too often we place limitations on our ability because we see the frailties of human flesh. What we don't realize is that when we place these limitations on ourselves we place them on God as well. One of the first verses I memorized when I was five or six years old was: I can do things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Phil. 4:13. I could quote it, but it would be many years later before I would enter into the good of it. In fact, it brought me little comfort when God called me to preach. How many people have rejected the call of God because of their perceived limitations? Really, it comes down to a matter of faith. Can God do through me that which He has called me to do? If we reject the call of God, we reject His grace to be what He called us to be. Your limitations are not established by your inabilities, but by your rejection of God's ability. Neither is your potential limited by your inability. Your potential is found in God's ability. Let's look at some of the men God called in scripture. I want to look at not only their response, but God's response to them.

1. Moses- When God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush and told him he was going to pharaoh to deliver God's people, Moses' response was,"Who am I that I should go to pharaoh....?" Later in the conversation Moses says to the Lord,"O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." God's response,"Who made man's mouth? ...... Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore ,go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." Moses, "O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send. He was still not convinced and angered the Lord. You can read the whole conversation in Exodus chapters 3 and 4. You can see the reluctance of one of God's choice servants.

2. Gideon- The angel of the Lord called him a mighty man of valor. At that moment he was hiding in winepress threshing wheat. Gideon's first response was to moan and groan about being forsaken by God. The angel gives him God's call and his response was,"O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."

3. Saul-Samuel prophesied that Saul was the desire of Israel. In other words, he was saying you are chosen to be king. Saul's response,"Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of Benjamin? Why then do you speak like this to me?"

Are you seeing a pattern? The children of Israel didn't enter the land because they saw themselves as grasshoppers in the sight of the people of Canaan. If our perception keeps us from the call of God, we have trusted only in the arm of the flesh.

4. Jeremiah- God's word to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah's response, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth." God's response to Jeremiah, " Do not say, I am a youth, for you shall go to all whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

If anyone knows our ability, it is God, and yet He refuses to accept our excuses. He does not look at our strength; He looks at His own. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think according to the power working in us. Ephesians 3:19 What is that power working in us? It is the Holy Spirit Who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, the same Holy Spirit who was brooding over the face of the waters when God said let there be and there was. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Are you too hard a case for Him to use? Absolutely not! You can do all things through Christ Who is your strength. You've heard it said that God is not interested in our ability, but our availability. Paul said that when He was weak, then he was strong for His strength is perfected in our weakness. God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. I believe that grace is not just unmerited favor, but it is God's ability. His grace is more than sufficient to enable us to do what He has called us to do. He delights in showing Himself strong in the lives of those who totally trust Him.

Friend, don't set your boundaries according to your ability. God wants to take you far beyond where you thought you could go. Don't limit God. Don't limit God in you. God can do whatever He wants to do and He can do it in you.

Be blessed,
Herb Dean