Sometimes you can be on a God movement, on a God mission and not make no progress. It can be the same Lord who sends you out and you get out there in the middle of the sea and just like the disciples will toil all night and make no progress. Lord, you send me out here but I ain't going nowhere. And then the Lord shows up walking on the very thing that's been troubling you, just to make you aware of who He is. It's to bring you deeper revelation, it's to bring you deeper insight. So you say, why would the Lord send me out here to this other side and there's great opposition. You see the disciples, they were rowing against that. They didn't stop, they were rowing and they were exhausted. It seems that the opposition against me is greater than the command You gave me.
It's interesting because you see a lot of people make doctrine out of that. There are some people who on God's command faced opposition but instead of continuing to row or waiting for the help to arrive, they came back to shore and made a doctrine about how significant the opposition is against the Word of God, against the command. We become so affected when we get out there and we find the opposition we don't know instinctively we don't automatically connect to the fact that help's gonna come. Help's got to come. Because they turn around, we turn around and lose all perspective that the opposition is not greater than the command. There are some people who've gone out and they came back to shore. Now they don't know where they are, where God is, what's going on. They're in a space where I don't feel like where I'm supposed to be. - I put no stock on the One who said go.
They kept on rowing and they kept on going and then the Lord showed up. It's interesting because the Lord knew the storm was going to come. The Lord was watching them row. The Lord says, He selected the hour. He was in the mountain praying, as He sent them forward, go to the other side, He watched them toiling, fighting against the opposition, and the Bible says, He selected the hour in which He would come, and bring deliverance. Your opposition is not greater than the command. Sometimes, the Lord shows up personally. For those of you who didn't turn back to shore, but stayed in the midst of confusion just rowing, I have no energy. What do you think happened to them when they saw Jesus walking on the water, exercising authority, the same water that they were rowing, the same water that would not let them make any progress, Jesus came walking on it, water under His feet, exercising authority over the very thing that was opposing them. Sometimes we get lost on moments, Lord why did you allow it? Why did you allow this impossible situation? Sometimes it can be difficult for us to move beyond that point. Why did you allow it? You told me to go. Now, I'm stuck rowing against the opposition, and then He shows up. So that you may know, and understand the God who is on your side. It's about covenant. He said, He's about to slay it before you. He is showing you His might, He is showing you He is for you, you need to know that. He is showing you He is for you. He is showing you His covenant. He says, He is there for you, now you're about to see in greater detail what that means. He is about to bring clarity to what you suspect, clarity to what you heard, clarity to what you thought. I can say God is with me, but I don't know if any of us who ever really know the levels in the depths of what that means. That's why you can talk to somebody who will acknowledge that God is with them, and when you say God is with you and He will do this, this is when they part ways because they haven't seen God come through for them like you've seen God come through for you. While you can both acknowledge that God is there for you, you part ways at the depths of what that means because there are some people who saw God come through at the very depths, and so that's where you part ways. It's not that they won't say God is here, but they don't know the depths of what that means to have God with them. But it's when He shows up, that's what creates the depths, that's what creates the understanding, that's what creates the knowing. The Lord says, I'm about to create some depth in you. THERE IS NO OPPOSITION GREATER THAN THE ONE WHO CALLED. Sometimes, it's necessary for us to see that if it wasn't for God who was by our side, sometimes it's necessary for us to encounter opposition so significant, that we create depth, and understanding of the God who's with us. ALL STORMS DON'T COME TO DESTROY, ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE FOLLOWING THE LORD. They come to reveal. We enjoy the Lord on a day to day, but the depth of who He is is revealed in the impossible. It's hard to have a textbook understanding of who the Lord is, a very academic understanding of a very real God. It's hard to have an academic understanding of who the great I AM is. Because all that He is doesn't fit in the confines of your theological breakdown. Somewhere along the line you will limit Him, in all that you believe you know. BUT IT'S IN THOSE IMPOSSIBLE SITUATIONS WHERE HE SHOWS UP, IT'S WHERE HE REVEALS, THE I AM THAT I AM.
Joshua 10:8-10 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.
Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.
And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth–horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.
Beth-horon - means hollow place which means empty in the middle;
The Lord says, I'm fighting for you.
Some of you are gonna look back at the opposition and you're going to remember the time when it made you cry but it will become a point of celebration for you, because you're going to look back and say, that's when I saw the Lord come walking on the water. That's when the Lord showed up for me. And my intimacy grew, and our relationship grew, and where He made Himself known to me, where He snatched me into His heart, so I could understand who He was for me. It made you cry, you were on your knees, you were faint, weak, tired, exhausted, you were discouraged. It's ironic how the Lord is about to change that moment, change that memory to a point of celebration because you're going to say, this is the place where God came through. Isn't it amazing how the Lord will change a situation around from one place will be the place where you wept, will now become the place where you rejoice.
No comments:
Post a Comment