new year's resolution pt 2- dream big, ask big

December 31, 2010

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine... (Ephesians 3:20)

God can do so much more than we could ever imagine or ask of him. We're so limited in our visions and, sometimes, because of how limited we are in our asking or visioning, less is done of God's work than would have been done had we committed our visions to Him and asked for His visions and will to be done, and not ours.

3Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.” ... When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. (2 Kings 4:3-4,6)

18Then [Elisha] said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. 19The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” (2 Kings 13:18-19)

In these two stories, we see that the miracles and events that God carries out are allowed to be 'limited' by humans. In the first story, the oil stopped flowing when there were no more jars left. If we only bring so many 'jars' to God, God only has so many to fill. If we never dream or ask God of big visions for His church, His people, or of our lives to be used and glorified by Him, and if we only give Him so much of our time, He can only do so much through us because He doesn't force His way through us.

In the second story, the king only struck the ground 3 times. Had he struck the ground 6 times, 10 times, etc he would have defeated Aram that many times. This story shows that when God asks us to do something, we should keep doing it until he tells us to stop and that how much we're willing to put in and give to God, will be how much in terms of blessings we'll be able to get. It's not that God wants to only give us so much, it's that we don't care to ask for much. It's like what CS Lewis said: "

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.”

Our visions and our dreams are much too small. God has so much more in store for us if only we'd allow Him to take over our plans and ask that His will be done over ours. Another example of when man's visions and hopes were so much smaller than God's occurs in the New Testament. Throughout the four Gospels, we see that the disciples, while they knew that Jesus was the Savior they were waiting for, had a completely wrong idea of what Jesus had come to earth to do. In the disciples' mind, the kingdom of God was the kingdom of Israel and they were waiting for the restoration of it; what they had hoped for in a Savior was someone who would come and restore their kingdom, who would deliver them from the Romans, and who would be the king over their nation. The Savior that God had spoken about and provided us with, however, is so much more than what they had imagined. Jesus wasn't there to save just Israel, but to save the entire human race; He didn't come to earth to deliver the Israelites from their Roman conquerors, no, those conquerors are small compared to what Jesus' death ultimately can deliver us from (if we'd believe and accept it): death, sin, the Devil; He wasn't only to be the king of the Jews, but the king of this world. The disciples' vision and hopes for Jesus were so much smaller than what God intended. It is not until after the resurrection that they truly understood and saw what an amazing redemption and plan God had in store for not just the Israelites, but for the entire world.

When Jesus was crucified and died, the disciples must have been very confused and felt quite hopeless. The savior they had been waiting for wasn't a savior that was suppose to die. To them, it would seem as if all their hopes had been crushed. But after the resurrection, when Jesus comes back to reveal himself to them and when their hearts and minds were finally enlightened and opened to what it was that God was really doing, they realized how much greater the hope they had now been given was. A hope so great, amazing, and worthy that many of them gave their lives just to be able to take part in clinging to and preaching of this hope.

I think so many times we ourselves have such weak desires and hopes. We ask God to accomplish the little visions we have, when all along, God has much greater things in store for us if we'd only ask for His will to be done. Sometimes when we do ask for God's will, in the midst of it, we become confused and feel hopeless because everything is not as we had imagined. We didn't get into the school we wanted, or that job that seemed so perfect and suitable, or that relationship that we had so treasured. Sometimes our hopes seem to have been crushed, but that is never the case when we ask for God's will to be done, for he alone is the fulfillment of all our hopes. If we would just wait, we'd see that God had something so much better in store for us than we had ever imagined. Where he leads us to will always be infinitely better than what we had previously envisioned for ourselves, and though we may not see it during the journey, we will realize it once God brings us to the destination.

So many times, I'm afraid that what I want is not what God's will for me is. But I have to remind myself that in everything, as long as I'm wholeheartedly praying for God's will to be done, and not making my own plans and working towards my own visions, there is nothing to be afraid of. He will bring me to where He knows is most suitable for me and where I can most glorify His name. I pray that this year I will not limit God with my small visions and hopes, but that I would be active in praying for His will to be done and for Him to bring me alongside Him in His work, His plans, and His purposes, and not that He would permit me in my plans, my dreams, and my visions. When we vision and come alongside God, the possibilities are endless; but when we ask God to come alongside us and our visions, well, it is quite the downgrade from what God wants to bestow on us. This new year, I am resolved to seek wholeheartedly after what God's visions are and to provide myself fully as a vessel that He may use in achieving His purposes. I'm excited to see the ways that God will do immeasurably more than I could ever have hoped for, asked for, or imagined.