Title Has the Lord's Hand Shortened?
Contents
Subject: Is the hand of the LORD short?
Text: Numbers 11:16-23
The Israelites who left Egypt wanted to eat meat while walking in the wilderness. At this time, "God, I want meat. Give me some meat." He complained and complained to Moses that there was no meat with what he had to pray for. Then Moses was stressed and prayed to God like this.
"God, why are you tormenting your servant? Why have you entrusted me with all these people and that I bear the burden? Did I conceive this people? Did I give birth to them? Where do I get meat for all this people? They wept toward me, saying, "Give us meat to eat. The burden is too heavy for me to bear all these people alone. Lord, I beg you, kill me immediately, so that I may not see this affliction." (Numbers 11:11-15)
Then God heard Moses' prayer and answered Moses.
“Moses, I will pour out the Spirit that is on you, on the 70 elders, and they will carry the burden of the people with you, and you will not bear the burden alone. And tomorrow I will give you meat to eat. Not only that, but I will make you eat it for a month until it overflows from your nose and you hate it.” (Numbers 11:16-20)
Then Moses had a momentary doubt as if he could not believe these words at all. “God, there are 600,000 male pedestrians in this people who are with me alone, and there are millions of women, old people, and young children, so you give them meat to eat for a month? Are they enough to gather all the fish of the sea?" (Numbers 11:21-22)
Then God answered Moses. "Moses, is the hand of the LORD short? You will see now whether my words will come true." (Numbers 11:23)
Gentlemen, the hand of God means power. It is the hand that calls the things that do not exist as though they exist and raises the dead. The hand that makes the impossible possible.
When God stretches out his hand, even the dead come back to life and any problems are solved. Once God reaches out his hand, the whole world is created or destroyed. The reason God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt for 430 years was because God extended his hand of power. The reason why the Red Sea water was divided was because God reached out his hand.
Moses knew better than anyone that the impossible becomes possible when God moves his hand once. But in today's text, Moses doubted God's word that he would give him meat to eat for a month, and he said, "How can such a thing happen?" And I ended up saying things that were not like Moses at all, questioning God.
But according to the Bible, this was very easy for God.
God created a wind and drove the quails from the sea and dropped them on the camp of Israel.
And these quails were too tired to run away. Therefore, the Israelites only had to pick up quails by hand and gather them. No nets were needed to catch quails, and no special skills were required. All I had to do was receive and eat what God gave me.
Because we humans do not dare to think of such a simple and easy task, we sometimes have a momentary doubt just like Moses. This is when God speaks to us.
"Is the hand of the Lord short? Why do you not believe in me? Am I not Almighty God? And do you not believe in Almighty God?"
Ladies and gentlemen, we believe in Almighty God. And through the Apostles' Creed, he confessed countless times, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, who made the heavens and the earth."
However, for some reason, there are times when a momentary doubt comes in, and it does not believe in God and touches the pride of God. There are times when we lose our faith in Almighty God and we become discouraged and give up. Even people with such good faith sometimes have momentary doubts about God's promises. Moreover, when we expect things that are impossible to imagine with human power or ability, we are even more suspicious.
Take the case of Abraham.
God said that he would give descendants to Abraham when he was 75 years old, but didn't he give the promised son only when he was 100 years old? In the meantime, didn't a momentary doubt arise about Abraham, the father of faith?
So, not through Sarah's wife, Sarah's maidservant, Hagar, who gave birth to a son called 'Ishmael' in a human way, and completely gave up the faith to receive the promised descendants of God, didn't he say something like this? “God has not given me offspring; my heir is Eliezer of Damascus, whom I brought up in my house.” (Genesis 15:2-3)
Then God took Abraham out in the middle of the night and said,
"Abraham, look up to the sky and count the stars. Have I not made these many stars? Your descendants will be so numerous in the future." (Genesis 15:5)
Then Abraham threw away his momentary doubts and came to believe in God's promises again. And when Abraham believed in God again, God regarded it as his righteousness and was greatly pleased. (Genesis 15:6) And eventually Abraham miraculously gave birth to a son at the age of 100 and his wife Sarah at the age of 90.
Ladies and gentlemen, sometimes a great wave of doubt arises for the great miracle of God to happen. However, if you do not overcome that momentary wave of doubt, the ship of faith is shipwrecked. If I do not cast out the momentary doubts, those doubts take over me and finally distance me from or cut off my relationship with God. Therefore, in order to obtain great miracles and great blessings, we must cast away our momentary doubts. And we need to trust God more and move forward.
I must believe the Bible, even if it does not make sense in my head and seems impossible. And you have to believe in the handiwork of God in the Bible. And we must believe that the God who sent quails to the Israelites in the old days and made them eat meat for a month is still feeding us today.
Without faith it is impossible to please God, and without faith it is impossible to obtain good things from God. Those who obtained good things from God and saw God's craftsmanship and miracles were all people of faith.
Sometimes a momentary doubt comes in and asks, "How can this happen?" They were people who tried to believe in God by firmly rejecting these momentary doubts even when they questioned God.
In the Bible, we see many scenes of Jesus saying this.
"It shall be done as you have believed!" In other words, you must have faith to see the miracles of God.
Folks, we are believers. We believe that God's hand is guiding us today. I believe that God will raise his hand and surely bless you and me. And I believe that God, who gave this great temple, will finally send a swarm of quails to the camp of Israel, so He will send this place full of His people.
God's hand has never been shortened. And God's hand was never weak. The God who extended his hand of power to the people of Israel in the old days is also extending his hand of power to me and you who live here in Calgary. Therefore, miracles we never imagined happen. Good things happen.
But do not forget these words: "It is not that the LORD's hand is not short, that it cannot save, nor his ear dull that it cannot hear; but that your iniquities have separated between you and your sins, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear you. Ham." (Isa 59:1-2)
In other words, no matter how much God tries to extend his hand of power to us, the wall of sin is blocked and miracles do not occur. Therefore, let us repent of our sins to God. Let me confess my faults. Confessing and telling God about your sins is not shameful, it is the most beautiful thing in the world, and it is the thing that God is most pleased with.
And God extends his hand of power to those who repent. And through his hands, he performs miracles that we could not have imagined. And you and I are in the place of the miracle. Amen !