There’s an incredible poster of Taylor Knox, a surfer, in front of a huge wave (over fifty feet high!) at Todos Santos, Mexico. Underneath are the words, “What if your fears and dreams existed in the same place?”
“And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.” (Hebrews 11 v 11-12)
Abraham and Sarah lived in a tent. God’s promise was that she would have more children than anyone else, she would in fact birth a nation.
The little place in the corner of their tent was not going to be big enough. She would need to enlarge it greatly if it is to have room for all their descendants.
Pain is not bigger than purpose.
The enemy’s best plot against you is not bigger than God’s purpose for you.
Whatever you may be going through today could be described as a desert, a trial and it can even be past being possible.
But the truth is the truth even when you have reached your very end.
God has purposed for your life even when the circumstance doesn’t get better it gets worse.
God is near you even when the enemy seems large around you.
There is more!
Abraham had to convince Sarah that there was more but they had to move on this more.
There is more. Your experience of Jesus in the past, no matter how amazing, is just a part of what can be fully experienced. There is more. God hasn’t finished with you yet.
Remember Exodus 15: 27 “Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.” We have a tendency to camp, to settle but there is more if we move! The numbers 12 and 70 indicate that this is indeed the perfect place but it was not their final destination. The supernatural provision of food happened only after Elim. So at Elim they were eating what they had brought out of Egypt. There was a diminishing supply of food. Yesterday’s provision was becoming mouldy. But as they moved the miracle came. Will you do it again Lord? There is more when you move.
Rob Parsons in his book “Let me tell you story” tells of a trip to the Middle East. “I spent a few minutes watching a camel owner offering rides to tourists. Giggling teenagers bounced along; ageing bodies held grimly on to the reins and to the delight of the watching crowd, one super cool thirty-something went flying over the beast’s head. But my main memory is that of a small boy. He could have been no more than 5 years old. A little earlier, his father had led him and his older sister over to see the camel at close quarters. The animal towered above them, occasionally showing teeth that made the wolf in Red Roding Hood look positively grumpy. The worldly-wise sibling, who was all of ten, had confidently stroked the camel, while her brother poked a hand out nervously towards it from his father’s back.
Now it was the big moment and he and his sister had the chance to ride the camel. The boy watched wide-eyed as his sister was lifted onto its back. As she began her short journey, he ran out from behind his father and waved at his sister laughing loudly. He was totally captivated, enjoying every moment, but then, as the camel turned to come back, I could see his small face change as an awful reality dawned on him; it was his turn next.
He ran straight back behind his father and no amount of cajoling from either the father or camel owner could get him anywhere near the animal. Finally, the dad gave up, paid for his daughter’s ride, took both children’s hands and started off down the street. And it was when they had gone ten metres that I saw something that moved me greatly; the small boy stopped, turned, looked wistfully back at the camel and then continued down the road. That look conveyed what he couldn’t say: “I desperately want to try … but I just can’t.”
I have seen that look so often in the eyes of not children, but adults. I have sometimes felt it in my own spirit. It is a look that glazes at an opportunity, that caresses a dream, that imagines a relationship, but is paralysed by fear.
One final thought, see the words, ‘And by faith even Sarah…’?
You may have failed, Sarah did. You may have laughed with cynicism, Sarah did. The point is you might not have trusted from the start but you can begin today! Fears and dreams sometimes exist in the same place.
Missions Paul 