DO NOT LIMIT AN UNLIMITED GOD
INTRODUCTION
The children of Israel stood at the edge of promise. Behind them lay the Red Sea, split by the power of God. Above them hung the cloud of His presence. Beneath their feet lay the bread of angels. Water gushed from the rock. Pharaoh's army drowned. Egypt's gods fell silent.
Yet they asked, "Can God spread a table in the wilderness?"
This question reveals the tragedy of the human heart. We witness miracles, then doubt the Miracle Worker. We taste provision, then question the Provider. We experience deliverance, then deny the Deliverer.
Beloved, God has no limitations. He spoke galaxies into existence. He numbers every star and calls them by name (Psalm 147:4). He holds the ocean in His hand and weighs mountains on scales (Isaiah 40:12). The earth is His footstool. Heaven is His throne (Isaiah 66:1).
The problem was never God's power. The problem was Israel's unbelief.
You are here today because God brought you. Some of you walked through fire. Others survived storms that should have destroyed you. God moved. God provided. God healed.
But now you stand at a new wilderness. A new challenge. A new mountain.
And the enemy whispers the same old question: "Can God do this too?"
This morning, the Spirit of the Lord declares: Stop putting boundaries around a boundless God.
I. FORGETTING GOD'S WORKS LEADS TO LIMITING GOD'S POWER
"They spoke against God; they said, 'Can God really spread a table in the wilderness?'" (Psalm 78:19)
Listen closely. Their question was not about God's ability. It was about their memory.
Israel forgot what God had already done. They forgot the plagues in Egypt. They forgot the parting of the sea. They forgot the manna that fell every morning. They forgot the water that poured from the solid rock.
Forgetfulness is the mother of unbelief.
When your testimony dies in your mouth, doubt grows in your heart. When you stop rehearsing what God did yesterday, you start questioning what God will do tomorrow.
The Israelites saw God strike the rock, and water gushed out. They saw it with their own eyes. "True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, streams flowed abundantly, but can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat for his people?" (Psalm 78:20)
Do you hear the insult in that question?
God just did the impossible. He made water flow from the stone. And they respond with, "Yes, but can He do this other thing?"
Beloved, this is how we limit God. We confess His past works, then deny His present power.
Moses records in Exodus 17:6, "I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." God performed this miracle. They drank the water. Yet they still doubted.
Spiritual Insight
Forgetfulness shrinks your vision of God. A forgotten miracle becomes tomorrow's doubt. When past testimonies are ignored, present faith weakens.
David understood this principle. He wrote in Psalm 103:2, "Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Why? Because remembering God's works keeps faith alive.
Illustration: The Wilderness Table
Israel said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?"
Think about this. A wilderness has no farms. No grocery stores. No supply chains. No rain. No fertile soil.
Yet God does not need systems to provide.
He does not need your connections. He does not need your salary. He does not need your background. He does not need your education.
If He rained food from heaven, He will meet your need right where you stand.
God does His best work where human help ends.
Application
When believers stop rehearsing God's works, they start questioning God's power. A church that forgets what God has done will fear what God will do.
Testimony is fuel for faith. Silence breeds skepticism.
You need to tell your story. You need to remind yourself what God brought you through. Write it down. Speak it out loud. Declare it to your children.
Deuteronomy 6:12 warns, "Be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." This command was given because God knew the danger of forgetfulness.
Because when the next wilderness comes, and it will come, you will need to remember: the God who brought you out is the same God who will bring you through.
Key Truth
A forgotten miracle becomes tomorrow's doubt.
II. A DIVIDED HEART RESULTS IN DISTRUST OF AN UNLIMITED GOD
"They turned back and tested God and limited the Holy One of Israel." (Psalm 78:41, NKJV)
The word "limited" here means to restrain, to provoke, to grieve.
Read that again. They limited God.
Not because God lost His power. Not because heaven shut down. Not because the Holy One became weak.
They limited God by their unbelief.
God was not limited in power, but limited by their faithless hearts.
Jesus Himself experienced this limitation. Mark 6:5-6 tells us, "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith." Even the Son of God was restricted by unbelief.
Spiritual Insight
God's power has no ceiling. His resources have no bottom. His strength has no end.
But faithless hearts restrict His working.
Miracles do not cure mistrust. Surrender does. A heart that wavers will always question God's faithfulness.
James 1:6-7 warns, "But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord."
Illustration: The Faucet and the Reservoir
God is like an unlimited reservoir. Faith is the faucet.
The problem is not the water supply. The problem is how wide you open the tap.
Unbelief does not empty God. It restricts the flow.
Faith opens the heavens. Doubt shuts the valve.
You turn the handle when you pray with expectation. You turn the handle when you obey His word. You turn the handle when you step out in faith.
But when you say, "God cannot do this," you are closing the valve.
Application
Many believers believe in God's power theologically, but not personally.
You say, "God is able." But you live as if God is not willing.
You sing, "Great is Thy faithfulness." But you worry like an orphan.
You preach, "Nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37). But you settle for less.
Saying "God will" while living as if "God won't" limits Him in practice.
Trust unlocks obedience. Obedience releases blessing.
Matthew 9:29 records Jesus saying, "According to your faith let it be done to you." Your faith determines your experience of God's power.
Modern Church Illustration
Many believers say:
"God healed then, but not now."
"God moved then, but not here."
"God did miracles then, but not through me."
That is Psalm 78 Christianity. That is wilderness thinking. That is the spirit of doubt dressed in religious language.
But Pentecostal faith says: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!" (Hebrews 13:8)
The God who healed the leper (Matthew 8:3) will heal your body.
The God who opened blind eyes (John 9:6-7) will open doors no man shut.
The God who raised Lazarus (John 11:43-44) will resurrect your dead dream.
He has not changed. He has not retired. He has not run out of power.
Key Truth
God is unlimited, but unbelief creates artificial boundaries.
III. GOD'S UNLIMITED MERCY PERSISTS DESPITE HUMAN LIMITATION
"But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them." (Psalm 78:38)
Here is the shocking grace of Psalm 78.
After all their rebellion. After all their complaints. After they tested God again and again. After they limited the Holy One of Israel.
God still showed mercy.
Israel limited God, but God did not abandon Israel.
Psalm 78:38 continues, "Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath; for He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again." (NKJV)
Pentecostal Insight
God's mercy is greater than your unbelief.
Judgment was deserved, but compassion prevailed. God restrained His wrath to continue His redemptive plan.
This is covenant love in action.
You have doubted God. You have tested Him. You have limited Him with your fear, your worry, your unbelief.
But God says, "I am not finished with you."
Mercy gives you another chance to trust again.
Romans 2:4 asks, "Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?"
Application
Some of you came here today carrying shame. You feel like you have failed God too many times. You think you have exhausted His patience.
But the Spirit of the Lord says: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23, ESV)
You limited God through fear. He still provides.
You limited God through doubt. He still delivers.
You limited God through disobedience. He still forgives.
Stop disqualifying yourself. God has not given up on you.
1 John 1:9 promises, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
The same God who fed Israel in the wilderness will feed you in yours. The same God who brought water from the rock will bring breakthrough from hard places. The same God who forgave their rebellion will forgive yours.
Key Truth
We limit God through unbelief, but God keeps inviting us back through mercy.
CONCLUSION
Beloved, God is not the problem. God has never been the problem.
The Red Sea was not too wide. The rock was not too hard. The wilderness was not too barren. The enemy was not too strong.
The problem was their refusal to believe.
You are facing something today that looks impossible. A sickness the doctors cannot cure. A debt you cannot pay. A relationship you cannot fix. A door you cannot open.
And the enemy is whispering, "Can God do this?"
The answer is yes. Yes. Yes.
He who spoke the universe into existence will speak to your situation.
He who measured the waters in the hollow of His hand will measure out blessing for you (Isaiah 40:12).
He who numbers the stars and calls them by name (Psalm 147:4) knows your name and knows your need.
Stop limiting God with your small thinking. Stop limiting God with your doubt. Stop limiting God with your fear.
Open your mouth and declare: "My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19, NKJV)
Lift your hands and proclaim: "With God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)
Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth: "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)
Do not limit an unlimited God.
The same God who brought you out will bring you through.
The same God who started the work will finish it (Philippians 1:6).
The same God who saved you will keep you (Jude 1:24).
Believe Him. Trust Him. Expect Him to move.
Your wilderness is not your final destination. Your wilderness is your testimony in the making.
God is about to spread a table in your wilderness. He is about to make a way where there is no way (Isaiah 43:19). He is about to show you that He is still the God of the impossible.
Do not limit Him.
Let the church say: Amen.
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Blessings,
Pastor JM Raja Lawrence
Andaman & Nicobar Islands
email: lawrencejmr@gmail.com
Mobile: +91 9933250072
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