Limiting God

“O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?” (Mic 2:7 AV)

 

A bit of a difficult verse to understand.  Israel had gotten to the point they did not believe the word of God or the prophets could do anything productive for them.  They either attempted to shut the prophets down, or they ignored the word of God because they did not see any value in it.  In short, they ceased to believe in the hand of God.  This reminds me of similar passages.  “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:” (Isa 59:1 AV)  The people of God did not see immediate results from their faith and therefore gave up on trusting God by walking in obedience.  This is the same group that reasoned worshipping the queen of heaven was the right thing to do because things seemed to be better when they did.  Now, we may not be that far off, but let us ask ourselves the same question as above.  Is the Spirit of the LORD limited?  That is what straitened means.  It means the Spirit of the LORD is limited in what He can do like a road is limited by how strait it is.  The more the road can adapt to the terrain, the more of the terrain the traveler will see.  The more a road winds around, the more options there are of where one might find rest.  The more a road diverts here and there, the more physical ground the driver can cover.  One wonders how many conditions we put on the Spirit of God that He cannot address our character or cannot meet our needs for comfort, faith, and obedience.

Yesterday, my wife and I were running errands.  We had to go to a store to pick up some clothes she had ordered.  We needed to stop at a grocery store for a few more food items.  Off to the pharmacy to pick up our scripts.  And, we stopped by the hardware store to look at exhaust fans.  Seeing as how we are in the middle of the road construction season, navigating from one point to the other was not as direct as it used to be.  My wife has learned that I seem to know the roads a bit more than she does.  She mentioned the route I would normally take was under construction and since she has a knack for direction without a map or GPS, she thought I was at a disadvantage.  She is so directionally acclimated, you could drop her in the middle of an unknown city, and she could find her way out in a heartbeat.  I, on the other hand, am too much a creature of habit.  If I go a certain way to get to a certain place, I am befuddled if I have to change course.  I seem to take the worst way possible.  At least from my wife’s point of view.  Not yesterday!  I am learning.  There was no doubling back.  I took the shortest way from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ as I could.  And she had no clue where we were!  God is so good!  She was stunned.  Her mouth agape, she wondered what happened to her husband. Typically, I would have gone a mile or two out of the way to get where I was going because I was more familiar with the roads.  Not anymore.  I knew the path that I needed to take to get there in the shortest distance possible and she was thoroughly impressed.  What was the difference?  I didn’t limit my choices to what I was familiar with.  I didn’t restrict myself to the comfortable.

Too many times we limit what God can do because we are either disobedient or lack the faith to trust.  The hand of God can do more than we ask or think if we only learn to trust the LORD.  The Spirit can do wonders in our lives and hearts if we simply remove the bearers of His ability to work.  God will not force His hand upon us.  Unless He is correcting us, that is.  He will not give us a miracle and tell us to deal with it.  He will not force His benevolence on a hardhearted or disbelieving soul.  God can do much if we simply believe He can.  Israel limited the Holy One of Israel.  They put roadblocks so that He could not do what He wanted to do.  We can read of this pattern all through the Old Testament.  Just because we are New Testament saints and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit does not mean we are any different from the Old Testament saint.  We limit the Spirit of God just as much as they did.  So, the question still stands.  Is the Spirit of the LORD straightened?  Only if we want Him to be.