He's big enough to do it!

After all that God has done for them - protecting them from the ten plagues, finally freeing them from slavery and oppression, loading them with the treasures of the Egyptians, splitting the Red Sea and drowning the pursuing Egyptian army, manna raining from heaven... (I can go on and on) - the Israelites are once again complaining. They have quickly forgotten the rotten slave drivers' whip and are longing for the comforts that they had as slaves - never mind at what cost.

Oh, for a few bites of meat! Oh, that we had some of the delicious fish we enjoyed so much in Egypt, and the wonderful cucumbers and melons, leeks, onions, and garlic! But now our strength is gone, and day after day we have to face this manna! (They say it like it's a bad thing...)

When God heard their complaining His anger grew hot and Moses was also very displeased. Goodness, I can't imagine what it must have been like to be Moses. He certainly had his fair share of challenges. So Moses responds to God, "Why pick on me, to give me the burden of a people like this? Are they my children? Am I their father? Is that why you have given me the job of nursing them along like babies until we get to the land you promised their ancestors? Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? I can't carry this nation by myself?

God heard Moses' cry and He was not at all impressed with this ungrateful, unbelieving people. He tells Moses to tell them to get ready - they want meat? He'll give them meat! (...not for just a day or two, or five or ten, or even twenty! For one whole month you will have meat until you vomit it from your noses; for you have rejected the Lord and have wept for Egypt.)

...And now I am very glad I wasn't an Israelite at the time... God was pretty upset by the sound of things.

Moses' response to God's plan is what I want to focus on - and I'm paraphrasing:

"Wait a minute: there are six hundred t-h-o-u-s-a-n-d men alone - forget about the women and children. Where the heck are we going to find enough meat to fulfill your promise, Lord? Even if we butcher all the animals we have we won't have enough to achieve what you've promised. We'd have to catch every fish in the sea! It's impossible! (Numbers 11:21,22)

How on earth can God make a promise that Moses is unable to fulfill... as if the complaining Israelites are not difficult enough to deal with as it is. "Cut me some slack here, will ya?" But Moses missed the point and God quickly corrects him:

Hey, hey, Moses! When did I become weak? Since when am I not God enough to do what I've promised? I am God, am I not? I'm big enough to do it! Now you just watch and see. (Numbers 11:23)

Suddenly I realized that in some ways in my own life I was Moses. I was telling God about my challenges, as well as all the solutions that I could think of, but those solutions were not sufficient for what I needed. Then I had also shared my anxiousness and fears with God - What am I going to do?! 

I had lost sight of the fact that when God makes promises He is well able to do what He had promised - He is big enough to do it! (and do it properly, instead of in a 'scraping the bottom of the barrel' way). God doesn't need my help to be God and He most certainly is not limited to my tiny ideas as a means of providing me with the breakthrough that I need.

Just like Moses my first, natural response was to grab at my own logic - after all, I have to do my part; "God helps those who help themselves", right? But what if you've done all you can do and it was not enough?

I have a natural tendency to try and fix - fix things, fix people, fix myself. There have been times when I was unable to fix something or someone and I have felt like God was just standing there, arms folded, watching, not making a move to help. I would feel angry and frustrated because it seemed like He wasn't "coming to the party". At one point God started helping me to realize that being God is not my job. He has never expected of me to do the impossible. My trying wasn't doing Him any favors or scoring me any points. It did, however, cause me to feel upset with God - wrongly so - and withdrawing from Him - exactly what the enemy wants. Since then I have learnt a few things: that it is my job to trust the God who is able to do the miracles - that it is my faith that moves Him, not my emotions.

Jesus said, "What is impossible with man, is possible with God." ~ Luke 18:27

A few verses on God performs a miracle and fulfills His promise by doing something completely out of Moses' frame of reference, memories, suggestions, imaginings, etc.: He sends a wind that brings quail from the sea, falling into the camp and all around, and as far as one could walk in a day in any direction. Moses could never imagine that.

You see, God is not limited to our small ideas. He created everything with precise detail, functionality, echo systems, food chains, etc. right down to the precise angle at which the planet Earth balances in order for gravity to be true. He is big enough to do"far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of - infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes." (Ephesians 3:20)

Does this mean that you don't have to do anything? By all means no. Do what you can - asking God for His wisdom - and trust God to do what you cannot! No situation is too big for the God of the impossible.

Are you facing a situation that seems too big for your logic; overwhelming in the face of every human effort that you've made? Then I want to encourage you today that you were never created to do the impossible. Make the decision today to change your approach - to be anxious for nothing, to pray about everything, telling God what you need and asking Him to do for you what you cannot do, and thanking Him by faith.

Remember: He is big enough to do it!!! Then believe, and watch Him do it.