When we think we can, we can’t. When we know we can’t, He can. Until we figure it out, He waits.
From a failed attempt at deliverance to the commissioning as deliverer, he waited. For Moses, God waited forty years.
The stories are legendary. They arrest our attention and stir our sympathies. And regrettably, they also mirror our own behaviors!
Stunning defeat. They took the walled fortress city in just seven days and did not even lift a finger! With daily faithfulness and bold obedience, at their corporate shout the finger of God pushed in the mighty walls. Jericho, is exhibit A of the power and presence of God. Emboldened by the sweet taste of success, Joshua scales back his forces and boldly launches an assault on an easy target. Three-thousand men seemed more than adequate for such light work. They confidently storm the village, and by sundown they find themselves burying thirty-six brothers as they lick the wounds of their own defeat. Venturing into battle and failing to inquire as to the presence and power of the Lord.
When we think we can, we can’t. When we know we can’t, He can. Until we figure it out, He waits.
Then there was King Rehoboam of Judah with his 180,000 select warriors strategizing an assault on their cousins up north, Israel, under the leadership of King Jeroboam. A horrible conflict wisely averted when the leadership listened to counsel. “So they listened to the words of the Lord and returned from going against Jeroboam.” 2 Chronicles 11:4 Years of prosperity and success followed obedience. But, “It took place when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong that he and all Israel with him forsook the law of the Lord.” And, “They will become slaves so that they may learn the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.” 2 Chronicles 12:1,8
Their Sabbath day sermons laced with the narratives of Israel were often seeking security and strength through partnership with the pagan powers in place of dependency upon their own powerful God. They anticipated that human strategies and appeased allies would certainly guarantee victory, only to discover instead the pains of great loss and the agony of defeat. Shouldn’t one expect that such greats as Peter and his buddies would have learned the lesson well? Such was not to be. They fished in the power of “professional” experience, and got stiffed. They navigated storm tossed seas in the genius of their training, and panicked. And, they sought to cast out demons by the simple authority of their own commands, and miserably failed. Slow to learn from repeated personal failures, Jesus confronts them with this one inescapable truth, “For apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
You can do nothing. You can do NO-thing. Ok, got it! Nothing. Not one thing that succeeds. Not one thing that lasts. Not one thing that smells of success or victory. NO-thing!
When we think we can, we can’t. When we know we can’t, He can. Until we figure it out, He waits.
They fall asleep as He prays alone. One attempts a mercenary defense with a pocket knife and gets only a bloody ear and an earful of reproof from the Lord. And they ALL run off into the night as the Master is tried, mocked and abused. “You can do nothing…”
Our problem is not that we have failed; our problem is that we have not failed enough!
For, when we think we can, we can’t. When we know we can’t, He can. And until we figure it out, He waits!
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
Psalm 90:1 “Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!”
See you Sunday, Church!
Pastor Tom
