God Will Do What He Will Do

I struggle in the mornings with my writing to find just the right title, and this morning is no different. I am in the first chapter of Matthew and was led to the passage of “The Birth of Jesus Christ” as it is titled in my English Standard Version Bible. I wanted to title my writing something like, “Nothing is to Big for God to do”. But for some reason, that just did not sound right.

You see, God is the biggest and as we know and He does the biggest things for sure. But I think a bit more about all of the things in general that God does that seem not quite as big. He burned a bush, that was not consumed, to talk to one man. He provided a ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac. Jesus turned water to wine for a wedding of friends. Jesus invited children to Him to teach. These things may not seem big in the grand scheme of things, but they do demonstrate that God will do what He will do.

“’²¹She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ ²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

‘²³Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel’

(which means, God with us).” – Matthew 1:21-23 (ESV)

God does what He will do to fulfill His plan. As I was in Matthew this morning and reading on the birth of Jesus, I was reminded that Mary was a virgin mother. Of course, how could this be other than God will do what he will do. Remember also, Mary’s relative, Elizabeth, conceived at an old age, John the Baptist, and was considered barren. And Sarah, Abraham’s wife conceiving at 90 years of age, Isaac, even as she was considered barren as well.

God will do what He will do to fulfill His plan. It does not matter what obstacles are in the way nor is all that He does magnificent to behold. God has His plan and nothing stands in His way to accomplish that plan. Our role in all of it is to trust in His plan and know that He will straighten out everything for the fulfillment of that plan.

“⁵Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

⁶In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths.”

— Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV)

What is your belief on what God does? Is it one of he does great things always? What if you took things that God does as that is Him doing what He does to fulfill His plan, regardless of the size of the things done?

The LORD’s Plan is Way Bigger Than We See

First question this morning is, what was the result of Moses, Aaron, the Israelites, and Pharaoh? Well, the result was that the Israelites did escape from the land and rule of Pharaoh, in fact, Pharaoh willingly let them go.

Yes, the LORD’s plan was realized, but when we look back at the beginning of the plan, it did not look to promising. You see, the Israelite people were doing work for Pharaoh and thanks to Moses and Aaron, that work was made harder.

“⁴But the king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.’ ⁵And Pharaoh said, ‘Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!’ ⁶The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, ⁷’You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves.’” – Exodus 5:4-7 (ESV)

Moses and Aaron tried to get relief for the people and instead Pharaoh made their work even harder. They were to no gather straw on their own for the bricks and continue to produce the same results of the work, doubling the effort needed.

The part we have to remember is who is in control during this entire time. God! The people could not see the plan of the LORD. All they saw was that they now had more work and things were harder for them. But, the LORD was just starting the work to get them released. And, the time it took for them to be released was not short (some say about a year). So, it stands to reason that the people did not see the plan that God had for them in the beginning.

For us, we have to do the work assigned by God. It may be difficult in the moment, and it may get even more difficult and we may not see the plan He has for us. The results may not be revealed until we get there. It may take years, and as we see with the Moses and the promised land, we may not even get to be there for the result. But God does have a plan and it is up to us to do the work and realize it is for the result of this plan we work, even when we may not be there when it is resolved fully.

What is your view of the plan of God? Do you expect that you know where it all ends? What if you did the work, knowing that you may simply be at the beginning of the plan that will play out over a long period of time?

Love Will Overcome Anger

I continue this morning in Genesis and am staying with Joseph. I am in the passage of his testing of his brothers and revealing himself to them.

Joseph had every right to be angry with his brothers, as they sold him into slavery. Over time Joseph had grown in position and stature and was certainly in the right as with the world view to seek and get back at them for their actions toward him. In verses 1-34 of Genesis 44 we see that he is indeed working to get back at them through his testing of them. But, he only works toward getting back at them and stops short of completion. Joseph recognizes that his brothers love their father and are truly sorrowful for what they had done.

Joseph had every right to be angry with his brothers, yet when he saw that they were sorrowful, his anger turned to sorrow and then to love as he revealed himself to them and demonstrated the forgiveness that only the LORD could provide for him to demonstrate.

“⁴So Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come near to me, please.’ And they came near. And he said, ‘I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. ⁷And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.’” – Genesis 45:4-7 (ESV)

Joseph was justified to be filled with anger in the moment. He had done nothing to deserve the treatment from his brothers as they sold him. Yet, he did not allow that to control him and was able to see that God was controlling the entire scenario from the beginning. The LORD had allowed him to be sold by his brothers. The LORD had brought him to Pharaoh. The LORD had given him position. The LORD had brought his brothers and family back to him.

I see this morning that love should be allowed to overcome anger. And not just that is should overcome, but ultimately it will overcome. I have to allow love to come through in all situations. I may have anger and it could be justified based on the situation, but I have to allow the love of God to come through and overcome the anger as only it can. I have to embrace that the LORD is love and that He controls all, right from the beginning.

What is your approach to anger? Are you allowing it to be that which overcomes? What if you recognize that the LORD is indeed in control from the beginning and allow His love to overcome your anger as it should?

Nothing is Too Big for God

Did you know that there is nothing impossible or too big for God? I keep having to remind myself that whatever God want to happen, will happen. We see miracles in the world all the time, and some of them may be explained through science (even though God controls it all even the science). And a good amount of miracles we come across are chalked up as luck (even though it is not luck and is all part of God’s plan).

“¹⁵And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’ ¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’” – Genesis 17:15-17 (ESV)

Yes, you read that right, Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 yrs old and they were to have a child together. Another miracle that only God can make happen. Luck could not be, and the science does not add up. Only God could do such a thing as this.

Notice that even the man that followed God’s direction to leave his home and traverse to a land he did not know. The man that trusted God to lead him and trusted where he was being led was taken aback that God would give him a son by His wife that had not been able to do so for all these years. Abraham was astonished.

But, nothing is too big for God. If God wants it to happen, it will happen. Abraham is not out of bounds to be skeptical and when I look at myself, I see a lot of the same in me around this area. Abraham was not disobedient to God’s Word, but he worked to understand. His ability to have a conversation with God allowed him to get to the bottom of things and trust that God would do as He said.

In this world as in heaven, God’s will be done. We may not recognize that it is His doing, but it is. The science may work to explain some things away (remember God controls the science), and things may be counted as lucky (remember everything is of God’s planning). But ultimately God will do what God will do and nothing is too big for Him.

What is/has gone on in your life? Are you attributing those to the science or to luck? What if you looked at them as God done, knowing that nothing is too big for God?

Mothers are from God

“¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 1:18 (ESV)

Jesus’ mother Mary was made a mother, not from some act of this world, but from God. It was not something that was manifest from anything that Joseph did, or the government did, or even the church did. God made it happen.

As I was reading and studying this morning, I was reminded that all mothers are so thanks to the LORD. Regardless of the circumstances, all children are gifts of God and are a product of His plan.

I know, what about those pregnancies that are the product of some heinous act? Well, where they are heinous and may seem to come from evil, I have to remember that all mothers are from God’s great plan. I am not defending any of these heinous acts. I am simply pointing out that all things are done in God’s plan. We may not understand His plan and may be, and have a right to be, angry with God in the moment. But I also have to remember that His plan is greater than anything that I can even conceive. In fact, just the pregnancy of Mary with Jesus was quite the controversy in the day. She was not married to Joseph, only engaged to be married.

Mothers are from God. They are gifts to the world as comforters, guides, and nursemaids. I have to remember this everyday and know that regardless of the circumstances, God makes mothers with purpose. I may not understand the purpose and as Joseph did in considering everything, we should as well. All will be revealed in God’s time, but the one thing we should not question is whether it is in God’s plan, because it always is.

What are your thoughts on mothers? Are you looking at them as just a birther of people? What if you considered that all mothers are from God and that everything is in His plan?