Yes He Can! But Should He?

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD’S hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.” (Nu 11:23 AV)

 The question the LORD posed to Moses seems like a really good statement of encouragement.  However, we must remember of what the LORD speaks.  The people of Israel are murmuring against their diet.  More specifically, they are complaining about the lack of divinely provided flesh.  They have had manna every day for a while.  They are getting bored.  They want variety.  We must remember they had flocks in the wilderness.  All the flesh they were in need of, they had.  It may not have been a superabundance, but it was sufficient.  To them, this was not good enough.  In Egypt, their captors kept them fed with a diet that varied and apparently contained flavors to which they became accustomed.  Now that they were in the wilderness, they expected the LORD to provide for them as the Egyptians did.  So, the LORD promised thirty days of quail.  This quail would fly in and die at their feet.  There was no need to hunt or raise them.  Moses observes there wasn’t enough cattle to sustain such a large group of people, so how was the LORD going to bring that much wild game?  Moses’ observation was not one of reality, but rather, one of potentiality.  He knew what it took to feed a large nation as his and saw this as impossible.  This is what prompted the LORD’s remarks.  The LORD’s remark was not one of blessing.  At least from God’s perspective.  He was going to do this because the Israeli people needed to learn a lesson.  The Bible tells us while the flesh was in their teeth, they got sick.  Some of them died.  It appears they wanted quail so badly, that they did not take the time to cook it properly and died as a result.  So, when the LORD says His hand is not waxen short, He is not referring to doing the impossible for our blessing.

I have been around the medical profession for many years.  As a pastor, I have seen many treatments for diverse illnesses or injuries.  As a patient, I have been subject to the more common tests and treatments.  What I have noticed is on rare occasions, a less than ethical health care professional will order tests or treatments because they might work, but leave the patient worse off than when he was prior to it.  These cases are very rare.  Almost all health care professionals will refuse treatment that does more harm than good, even if the treatment is the newest and greatest of technologies.  If there is a complete cure for the issue at hand, yet causes worse distress in another area, almost all healthcare professionals will refuse to administer it.  Even if the patient advocates for him or herself, almost all healthcare professionals will refuse to treat him in such a manner.  The impossible may be worse than the probable.  The Hippocratic oath demands the healthcare provider does not harm.  The ethical thing to do is to seek treatment that cures the issue without causing harm somewhere else.  The patient may want the impossible.  But the impossible may cause another problem for which there is no cure.

We had better be careful in the prayers we seek from God.  God is the God of the impossible.  He can do anything as long as it is not contrary to His divine nature and plan.  Sometimes we ask the LORD to perform the impossible because we know He can.  But the impossible may not be His best for us.  In the above scenario, it was wiser for the children of Israel to trust the LORD for their meat by the natural processes of the flocks which they had.  But they did not.  They should have trusted the LORD in the provision of the manna.  But they did not.  They should have been content in their lot in life because it was the lot they chose.  They chose not to trust the LORD and take the land of Canaan.  This is why they wandered in the wilderness.  Asking God for the impossible when the impossible was not needed, resulted in a worse situation than the one they thought they had.  Asking God for the impossible when the possible was sufficient only adds to the problems.  They should have seen what they had and what they had gained before they complained to the LORD for something better.  The impossible may not be the best thing.  Sure, God’s hand can do it.  But should He?  Should He give you the desires of your heart just because He can?  Or, should we refrain from asking the LORD to do the impossible because the impossible is not in our best interests?  Sure, His hand is not waxen strong.  Sure, He can do miracles that stupefy the saint.  We love and serve a God who can do beyond what we ask or think.  However, asking God to do what only He can do just because He can do it may not be the best idea.