UNBELIEVABLE!
Jan and I get quite overwhelmed whenever we stop and recount the goodness of God in our lives and the way He has led us and provided for us, especially in my “one breath from death experience. ”Quite frankly you don’t need an experience like to take you to the “overwhelmed” state. God provides enough in life for all of us in displays of His mercy and grace that the word “unbelievable” or “overwhelmed” is really not good enough to describe what we have experienced.
There’s an expression in Psalm 68:19 in the King James Version that really tells us how blessed we are:
Psalms 68:19 (KJV) Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
Think of it! God daily loads you up with benefits. It’s like He backs the dump truck, one of those really large dump trucks, up to your house every day and loads you up with benefits and blessings. It’s unbelievable!
You know, it’s just like God to do the unbelievable in doing far more that we expect. He does it all the time. Following are a variety of translations for Ephesians 3:20, which is a great verse in the Bible to think about God’s unbelievable provision!
Ephesians 3:20 (NIV) Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
Ephesians 3:20 (KJV) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Ephesians 3:20 (The Message) God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Ephesians 3:20 (ESV) Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
No matter how you translate it, God does not reside in the box of our dreams, imagination, or best thoughts. He is far greater and to think that He does all this because He delights in us as His children is unbelievable!
Psalms 18:16-19 (ESV) 16 He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. 17 He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. 18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. 19 He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.
Is there anything in any one of us that would cause Him to delight in us? Not by nature! That delight has come by His sovereign choice in which He, according to the pleasure of His will, has chosen to delight in us. Wow! It’s all by His grace that He has reached down to any of us and taken us to places in life beyond our wildest dreams. It’s also by His grace that He reached down to any of us and saved us from our deepest and darkest moments and rescued us.
As Psalm 124 describes what could be any scene of life on any given day, “If the Lord had not been on our side … we would have been swallowed up and swept away.”
When the Queen of Sheba went to test Solomon with hard questions and see if all she had heard about him was true, she returned home saying, “the half has not been told me.”
There’s no “well that’s as good as it gets” with God because He goes beyond our best thoughts - in fact He even exceeds that. “Unbelievable!”
If that’s how God has revealed Himself to us in His Word, shouldn’t we look to Him, commit our way to Him, and trust Him to be true to His Word? How about the next time you pray, take a moment to think of God’s greatness, His abundance of grace and blessings with which He has loaded up your life, and allow yourself to be carried away in gratitude?
Let’s face it, we just get caught up in the day to day activities and struggles of life and miss out on recognizing all the “God moments” in which He demonstrates His delight in us all the time. We often are like Peter in the Matthew 14 account, who upon seeing Jesus walking on the water stepped out of the boat. Upon noticing the waves, he took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink. When He cried out, Jesus reached out and pulled him up saying, “Oh little faith, why did you doubt?”
Since we too get caught up in the waves of the day to day and in the turbulence of the disappointments of life, it helps to take an honest look at what God has done in our lives and allow our souls to be overwhelmed and say, “Unbelievable!” Then our troubles will seem small in comparison and we’ll be encouraged to trust Him with all of our burdens. That’s faith – faith based upon the greatness of God, not something we have tried to work up in ourselves.
Godspeed,
Bob Brubaker
Bob is the pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church, Clearwater, Florida. See www.ccpconline.org for church information and listen to Bob’s latest sermons.
