"None Greater"

"To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:" (Psalms 136:17)

  If you recall, the people had to forgo the promise land for a generation, all because they feared what might happen to them; all because there were giants in the land! Do you face any giants that might be causing you to fear moving forward? This was a pretty powerful moment for the children of Israel; and I say that sarcastically, because all of the sudden they were basing what might happen to them on their own power, and not God's power! These are lessons that are never really settled in the human heart; no matter how powerful of a battle God has fought for you before, the battle ahead is always more frightening or different than the battle before. But God, He is the same God! He never changes or weakens His mighty arm! What could it be that causes this to happen in our heart? Is it that we forget what God has done, or maybe we feel less worthy of His protection? If you have settled this in your heart, I wish you well with your strength and your ability to trust God in every trial; but if you are like me and almost every other believer, and you get blind-sided now and again by something that just looks too big to handle, take heart, because God is greater! They say, "God will never give you more than you can handle," the closest Scripture that comes close to that line of thinking is found in, 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Excuse me if I bust your bubble, but there is nothing here that is speaking about anything close to us being able to handle anything! As a matter of fact, taken in context of the verse before and the verse that follows, this is about us not trying to do anything within our own power, but by the power of God! Verse 12 says, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." And verse 14 says, "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." Ironically, this Scripture is based upon the children if Israel and the way the murmured against God in the wilderness, even after they saw mighty signs and wonders! Silly humans we are for thinking we can do anything without God, even fighting the flesh. If we can't get past the flesh on our own, what makes us think we can take on anything spiritual? So, if you are interested, the idol here is power; it is the power we think we might have to take on the giants, forgetting that the battle belongs to the LORD...

"If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." (1 Corinthians 10:12-13) NLT