DAY 16, Read Deut. 7:12-26
Key Verses: “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I how can I dispossess them?’ – You shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid” (Verses 17-19).
The mighty hand of God is evidenced by the works he does. To me, and to most of us, the mighty hand of God must manifest in practical terms such as in: raising godly, educated and potentially successful children. It is about owning a successfully growing business. It is also about growing a successful ministry for those of us who are Pastors here. And without sounding verbose, it is about being as pastors, successful people-practitioners. It is about owning a reputation and protecting it and much more. The mighty hand of God is only as mighty as the miracles in our lives.
The mighty hand of God is not about reading Bible stories of his mighty deeds in Israel or about his miracle in other people’s lives. We must look at what he can do in our lives, what indeed he does in our days, and definitely in our nation.
God likes to deal with us as individuals because we must stand before him, all of us, to account for what he has committed to our charge. However, he also deals with us as a nation because we must account for the nations he has given us, beginning with our families, our Church and then Nigeria. Now, that’s to me and should be to us, the mighty hand of God. If you’ve read Hebrews Chapter 11, like I know you’ve done, you’d know what mighty things God can do through us.
Now, the mighty hand of God implies that God has hands. God’s hands are for action. No wonder Jesus says in John 5: 17 “My Father worketh hitherto and I work” Oh yes, the hands of God work!
God isn’t mighty because times are good. God’s might and greatness are not demonstrated simply in good times and situations. For example, God’s love is better appreciated in a life packed full with a multitude of sins. A man or woman caught in a family that’s saved and churched is going to grow up more likely than not in an atmosphere of godliness and may not fully know the depth of God’s love like his counterparts who’ve been perhaps, dragged out of the vice and the deep pit called warmongering or harlotry for example.
The same thing happened at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-13). The angel by the command of God’s spirit moved at certain season upon the pool and the first person to jump in was blessed.
PRAYER: Holy Spirit, reveal to me the depths of the power of the mighty hand of God.
