The All-Sufficient One (God's Unlimited Power) Series

The All-Sufficient One

I AM Series: From Burning Bush to Bethlehem

Main Text: Genesis 17:1

Supporting Texts: Genesis 18:14, Luke 1:37

Theme: God's Unlimited Power

Introduction

Abraham sits outside his tent at ninety-nine years old. He stares across the desert sand. Thirteen years have passed since God last spoke to him. His body grows weaker each day. Sarah passed childbearing age long ago. The promise of a son seems impossible now.

Then God breaks the silence. He appears to this old man and declares something that echoes through history: "I am El Shaddai." This Hebrew phrase means "God of more than enough." The all-sufficient One who possesses unlimited power to accomplish His purposes.

You face your own impossible situations today. You wonder if God's promises apply to your specific problems. You question whether you have waited too long for breakthrough. You feel your own limitations mock God's power.

El Shaddai's revelation to Abraham speaks directly into your impossibilities. This story teaches you about God's unchanging nature. His ability to accomplish what seems utterly impossible through human strength. When you grasp who El Shaddai is, you begin to understand something transformative. Your limitations become the stage where God's unlimited power displays itself most clearly.

The God who revealed Himself to Moses as "I AM WHO I AM" shows Abraham another dimension of His character. El Shaddai specializes in impossible situations. He works best when human resources are exhausted. He displays His greatest power through your greatest weakness.

1. When You've Waited Too Long (Genesis 16:16-17:1)

Thirteen Years of Silence

Genesis 16:16 tells us Abraham was eighty-six when Ishmael was born through Hagar. Genesis 17 opens with Abraham at ninety-nine. Thirteen years passed without a single recorded word from God. Think about this silence. Thirteen years without hearing from the One who promised to make you a great nation.

You struggle when God doesn't answer your prayers in thirteen days. Abraham waited thirteen years. During this time, he watched his body deteriorate. He observed Sarah move further beyond any natural possibility of pregnancy. Every sunrise reminded him that God's promise seemed more impossible than the day before.

This silence was not punishment. God uses seasons of quiet to deepen your dependence on His character rather than His communications. Abraham learned to trust not what God had said, but who God is. The silence taught him that God's timing doesn't match your expectations. God's faithfulness transcends your understanding.

God often remains silent when you need Him most. You interpret His silence as absence. Abraham learned to interpret God's silence as preparation. The quiet seasons prepare you to receive what seems impossible.

Abraham at 99

Abraham faces the mathematics of impossibility at ninety-nine. Romans 4:19 describes his body as "good as dead" for fathering children. Sarah is eighty-nine, decades past menopause. From every human perspective, the promise of a biological heir has become a biological impossibility.

God chooses this precise moment to reveal His nature. He doesn't appear as "God the Encourager" though He encourages. He doesn't come as "God the Comforter" though He comforts. Instead, He reveals Himself as El Shaddai. The all-sufficient One whose power operates without limits.

This timing teaches you something crucial about God's character. El Shaddai doesn't work alongside your strength. He specializes in working through your weakness. When Abraham's strength was gone, when Sarah's womb was barren, when human possibility was exhausted, El Shaddai stepped forward. He demonstrated His unlimited power.

Your weakness doesn't disqualify you from God's power. Your weakness positions you to experience His power. When you reach the end of your resources, you arrive at the beginning of His.

Our Impossible Situations

Abraham's story mirrors your impossible situations. You face a marriage that seems beyond repair despite years of prayer. You watch a child walk further from faith with each conversation. You battle an illness that has exhausted medical options. You struggle with financial pressures that have no earthly solution.

You wonder if God's promises in Scripture apply to your specific situation. The enemy whispers that your circumstances are different. Your problems are too big. You have waited too long. But El Shaddai's revelation to Abraham teaches you something different.

Impossible situations are not obstacles to God's power. They are opportunities for God's power to be displayed most clearly. The widow of Zarephath had oil and flour for one final meal before death (1 Kings 17:12). Her impossibility became the stage for God's miraculous provision.

The disciples faced 5,000 hungry people with five loaves and two fish (Matthew 14:17). Their inadequacy became the platform for Jesus's multiplication miracle. Your impossible situations serve the same purpose. They strip away your self-reliance. They create space for El Shaddai to demonstrate His all-sufficiency.

When you exhaust your resources, strategies, and strength, you position yourself to experience the unlimited power of the all-sufficient One. Your emptiness becomes the container for His fullness.