“May your eyes be open
to the plea of your servant and
to the plea of your people Israel,
so that you will hear them
whenever they cry out to you.”
– 1 Kings 8:52
Solomon continues his prayers for his soldiers who have been scattered among the goyim due to their sins.
His prayer request for them is simple.
That no matter where they are…
And no matter what their circumstances…
That the Lord would hear their pleas…
And act on their behalf.
Now, this is a great time to remind you of something.
Do you realize how theologically revolutionary this petition of Solomon’s was?
Why?
Because at this time, the entire planet was handcuffed by the belief that the powers of the gods were restricted by geography.
For example, a Japanese deity didn’t have power in Singapore, and vice versa was also considered true.
So in those days, a soldier really believed that if he was carried away to some foreign land, that meant he lost the protection of the god or gods he held allegiance to.
That’s why soldiers would carry these little portable god idols with them.
Because they believed they were protected only if their gods were with them.
And that’s also why a conquering army would confiscate the idols of the enemy forces they had defeated.
They knew it would demoralize them to the point where the will to fight would be completely obliterated.
The point is everyone was operating under the same belief system that the spirit world was territorial or nationalistic by nature.
Well, Solomon destroyed this idea in his dedication prayer.
Actually, God Himself destroyed this notion when He went to war against the gods of Egypt during the Exodus.
He showed them koshary-eating homies He was boss not just in Canaan…
But anywhere in the whole world.
And then He made toast outta Egypt to prove it.
Alrighty, let’s switch over to the takeaway.
Here’s what’s coming to me.
We, humans, are too limited in our thinking when we think of the God we worship.
We project our own limitations onto Him when they are just our ridiculous imaginations getting hog wild outta control.
Ya feel me here?
So the takeaway for today is what God told Moses in a rebuke when Moses doubted the Lord’s ability to feed all the Israelites who were griping about not having meat to eat.
The Lord responded as follows:
הֲיַד־יְהוָה תִּקְצָר
This literally means…
“Is the Lord’s hand shortened?”
In other words, it’s an idiom questioning whether God’s power is somehow limited.
The Lord proved He was not limited in any way when He soon afterward sent a flock of quail to feed the entire population of Israelites in the desert.
So look man.
Whatever issue you are struggling with…
It is ridiculous beyond the pale to think the Lord ain’t capable of handling it.
He knows you gotta pay rent next month.
He knows that the left side of your body, following the stroke you had a while back, is feeling kinda weird after the kettlebell swings you’ve been doing over the past couple of months.
He knows about your lower back pain.
Or the relationship struggles you’ve been having with your husband, wife, mama, or papa.
He knows it all.
So surrender your entire life over to him.
Surrender your financial worries over to Him.
Surrender your sexual frustrations over to Him.
Surrender that ache in the back of your neck to Him.
Surrender it ALL to Him.
And have confidence that His arm is not too short.
Ya feel me here?
Leave a Reply