Many people have a misunderstanding that everything that happens in their lives depends on God alone, and that there is nothing that they can do or accomplish with their own hands. Some others have resigned themselves to a fatalistic view that everything is controlled by God, and that therefore there is nothing left for them to do. The truth of the matter is that, it is only when our hands are willing to do all that is within our ability that the Lord steps in to do His part. As we look at various incidents recorded in the Bible, it will help us understand that the Lord intervened to do the impossible in that situation, only when the people involved in it were willing to do what was required of them.
The impact of man’s hands in:
• A hopeless situation
In John Chapter 11, we read of how the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. In order for that to happen not only did the Lord expect the people to roll the stone away from the mouth of tomb, He also expected them to untie Lazarus’ grave clothes, when he came walking out of the grave. As the people responded to the Lord’s instruction, and did what they could do, only then the Lord intervened, and turned the hopeless situation to one of hope, by raising dead Lazarus back to life.
We understand then, that when we are willing to do what is required of us, the Lord will mediate, and change a hopeless situation into a hopeful one. So also, if we are to be set free from the bondage of sin and death, we must be willing to do what’s required of us so that Lord can work in us and bring about the freedom and transformation in our lives.
• A fearful situation
We read about this incident in Exodus Chapter 2. When Moses was born in Egypt, Pharaoh issued an edict that all the male babies of the Israelites must be thrown to death into the River Nile. While all other mothers followed the orders of Pharaoh, there was one mother who believed that the Lord had given her baby boy in her hands, because He had a purpose for him. Knowing this she did all that she could do, to protect the baby boy for as long as she could. However, when the time came when she could no longer hide her baby, she decided to put her baby in a papyrus basket, and left him among the reeds in the River Nile.
The basket was noticed by none other than the Princess (Pharaoh’s daughter), who on opening the basket saw the baby boy, took pity on him, and decided to take him to the palace to bring him up as her son. Even in such a fearful situation, when Moses’ mother did all that was in her hands to do, the Lord stepped in, did the unimaginable, and placed the baby in safe custody of Pharaoh’s daughter herself. And a greater miracle was that, the Lord also made the Princess give back baby Moses to his own mother, to raise him up for a few more years.
• An unyielding situation
In Joshua Chapter 6 there is the amazing story of God’s deliverance of Jericho into the hands of Joshua and his army. If the Lord wanted to, he could have brought down the walls of Jericho in an instant but He expected Joshua and his men to do what was required of them to do. Not only did Joshua and the warriors have to go around the walls of Jericho, the Lord also expected Him to fight the battle once the walls came crumbling down.
An impossible situation can be changed, only when we are willing to do all that God expects of us to do. When we do so, the Lord will definitely break down all barriers, and make a way for us in the midst of our difficulties.
• A lacking situation
In John Chapter 2, Jesus was at Cana of Galilee, when there was a want for wine at a wedding. When the need was brought to the notice of Jesus, he instructed the servants to fill the jars with water. It was the task of the servants to fill the jars, and also their duty to pour out the water to the guests. As they did what the Lord commanded them to do, only then the Lord did the mighty miracle of changing water into wine. If the Lord wanted He could have changed the water into wine as soon as the water was filled in the jars, but the Lord wanted them to do their part of believing and pouring the water out, and only then the Lord performed the miracle.
We may be in a hopeless situation like Lazarus, a fearful situation like Moses’ mother, a situation with great obstacles like Jericho that Joshua faced or one of lack like the situation at the marriage at Cana. Whatever our circumstance may be, if we are willing to do what is in our hands to do, the Lord will surely do His part and work beyond our thinking and expectations.
The impact of Moses’ raised hands in battle
We read in Exodus 17:9, So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” (ESV)
In Exodus 17:11 we read, “Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel would start winning the battle. Whenever Moses lowered his hand, Amalek would start winning.” (CEB)
In the battle between Israel and Amalek, Joshua was leading the battle while Moses was on top of the mountain, praying with his staff held high in his hand. As long as Moses’ hand was raised, the Israelites won, and as the long hours of battle proceeded Moses’ hands grew weary and lowered, the Amalekites began to win the battle. As the battle proceeded it must have dawned on Moses that the victory or defeat of the Israelites that day had been committed by the Lord into his hands. The raised hands of Moses brought the people of Israel victory and the drooping of his hands brought Israelites defeat. As a leader standing on top of the mountain in prayer on behalf of God’s people, Moses with his raised hands was bringing victory to the people of Israel.
So also, it is only when we kneel in the presence of God, with our hands raised, and with a heart of faith, will we too experience victory, and the Lord will defeat Satan’s evil plans in our lives. He is the Lord who hearkens to our cries, hears our prayers, and answers us. Some of us have grown weary in our prayer lives. We try to pray, but are unable to do so because we don’t see much change. Our physical eyes may not see the transformation, but the Lord is working on our behalf every time we kneel in prayer. We must learn to pray individually, pray as families and pray with our colleagues, pray wherever possible, and most certainly we will experience transformation and victory in every area of our lives.
The blessings of God on Abraham
When we look at the life of Abraham, God promised to bless Abraham in two areas of his life.
In Genesis 22:17, God said to Abraham, “I will multiply your seed…”
Also in Genesis 22:18, God also said “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”
The blessings that God showered on Abraham was the physical blessing of multiplication of his seed, and also the spiritual blessing that all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.
It is important for us to understand therefore, that the blessings of God are always two-fold, one which pertains to our physical life, and the other pertaining to our spiritual life.
Esau and Jacob -The battle between the flesh and the Spirit
Esau and Jacob were the twin boys of Isaac and Rebekah. In a Jewish family, the first born son had the blessings of birthright, which meant that he had the privilege of carrying the family name and becoming the head of the family. So as the first born son, all these blessings of birthright were due to Esau. The second blessing they were entitled to, was the blessing their father bestowed on them, before his death. The first blessing was a worldly blessing, and the second blessing was a spiritual blessing.
In Genesis 25:29, we read, “One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry.” (NLT)
We also read in Genesis 25:30- 32, Esau said to Jacob, "I'm starved! Give me some of that red stew! "All right," Jacob replied, "but trade me your rights as the firstborn son. Look, I'm dying of starvation!" said Esau. "What good is my birthright to me now?" (NLT)
Esau and Jacob were quite different in their personality and temperaments. Esau was a wild man, who loved the outdoors, and was a hunter. Jacob on the other hand was the quiet one, who loved to stay home. Esau came home one day after one such hunting trip, totally exhausted and hungry when he saw Jacob preparing stew. When he asked Jacob to give him some of the stew, Jacob made use of this opportunity and asked his brother Esau to sell him his birthright. While Esau’s eyes were on the temporary, and sought after the physical food which would satisfy his immediate hunger, his brother Jacob’s had his eyes fixed on the blessing of Esau’s birthright. In order to satisfy his temporal hunger, Esau treated the great blessing of his birthright with disdain, and sold it to his brother Jacob. Later Jacob even deceived his father Isaac by pretending to be Esau and received his father’s spiritual blessings as well. After having received this blessing Jacob also wrestled with God Himself, and did not let go of God till the Lord blessed him. Even though Jacob was a deceiver, and far from perfect, the Lord chose to bless Jacob and honored him, because he earnestly sought after God and the spiritual blessings that the Lord could give him, and did not treat it with contempt as Esau did.
That is also the reason why when God refers to Himself, He introduces Himself this way. ‘I am the Lord of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’ Acts 3:13, and not as the God of Esau, because sadly Esau forfeited this blessing that was duly his. Even till today we refer to God as the God of Jacob, only because it was Jacob who earnestly sought after the spiritual blessing that the Lord wanted to lavish on him.
The Lord is ready and willing to bless us with both of these blessings even today. The question is, ‘What are our eyes fixed on?’ If our eyes are only on the temporal blessings like money, our own house, bigger vehicle, better job, marriage alliance etc., always comparing ourselves with those around us, our prayers will also be directed to God only to meet these material and temporal needs. Instead we must set our eyes and hearts to seek the spiritual blessings that the Lord is willing to bestow on us. We give very little importance to the word of God, prayer and fellowship only because our hearts are set on meeting our temporal and physical needs only. If we give God the rightful place in our lives, and do what we are required to do, the Lord will doubtless keep His promise and bless us in every way possible.
The blessing that King Saul lost
King Saul was the first King of Israel chosen by God. However, Saul was so obsessed by his position, and was so filled with self, that he sought do his own thing and disobeyed the Lord repeatedly. The Lord therefore, decided to set Saul aside, and made David King in his place, only because the Lord found David to be a man after His own heart. The blessing that David received was the blessed privilege to have Jesus come in his lineage and be referred to as ‘The Son of David.’ If we think about it, Saul being the first in the line of kings, Jesus should have been referred to as ‘The Son of Saul’, but Saul forfeited it, because the choices he made did not honor God.
The blessing that Gehazi lost
When the Prophet Elijah was taken up to heaven, and the mantle fell of Elisha, the Lord gave Elisha a double portion of the blessings and power that Elijah had. Gehazi who was the servant of Elisha, therefore stood a great chance that he could have received a four-fold blessing from the Prophet Elisha. Instead, because of Gehazi’s greed and his carnal mind, he not only lost the blessings due him, but sadly also contracted Naaman’s leprosy. The reason was that he sought after the worldly things and lost the spiritual blessings in the bargain.
The association between Jacob and Esau and Israel and Amalek
The descendants of Esau were the Amalekites, and the descendants of Jacob were the Israelites, and there was constant war and enmity between them. The Amalekites we could say correspond to those who live according to the flesh, satisfying the temporal while the Israelites are a semblance of those who walk in obedience to the Spirit, seeking after the eternal, and these two are in constant conflict.
So too, we have within us a continual struggle between our flesh and the Spirit. Every day we must choose to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. All of us have a daily constant battle as to whether or not we should wake up early to pray, spend time with the word of God, to be in fellowship with other believers or to spend time in corporate prayer.
Inside of each of us is an Esau and Jacob (flesh and the Spirit) and we are called to make a choice to follow after the Spirit and not walk according to the flesh. It is understandable that we all have physical needs and desires, but the secret is that when we seek first the spiritual things of God, He takes over and takes care of everything else.
In conclusion we read 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Paul says, “For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (NLT)
Paul’s encouragement to us in the above mentioned verses is that, as long as we live on this earth, and seek after the Lord who is unseen, we may be faced with certain trials and troubles, but these are light and momentary. On the other hand, there is an unending trouble in store for those who live on this earth, only seeking after the worldly and temporal things, a place of unending sorrow and pain. The struggles we face as those who desire to follow the Lord is nothing compared to the eternal and great glory the Lord has stored up for us in heaven. The things that are seen are all temporal, but the things that are unseen are eternal. If we fix our eyes on the eternal we will experience victory in all aspects of our life. Let us choose to daily strengthen the spiritual man, and not the carnal man. Let us persevere steadfastly in prayer, and never give up, lifting up holy hands to the Lord in supplication and prayer so we can live victoriously.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
Transcribed by: Sis. Esther Collins
