Your Limitations Don't Limit God
Have you ever looked at what you can't do and let it decide what God won't do? I think most of us have — and this past Sunday, I shared from Joshua 13 about why that's one of the most dangerous traps we can fall into.
God Already Knows Your Limitations
In Joshua 13:1, we read something that stopped me in my tracks:
"Now Joshua was old and advanced in years. And the Lord said to him, 'You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess.'"
I love how direct God is here. The writer tells us Joshua is old, and then God tells Joshua he's old. That's a pretty blunt way to open a conversation. But here's what I want you to notice: God wasn't telling Joshua anything Joshua didn't already know. He wasn't surprised by the limitation. And neither is He surprised by yours.
What strikes me most is what God says next. Right in the same breath, He says there's still much land to possess. Two realities, side by side: Joshua is old, and God's mission is not finished. Joshua's circumstances had changed — but God's purpose for Israel had not.
The Mirror That Lies About God
When I was preparing this message, I kept coming back to this image: those fun house mirrors that stretch you out or squash you down. They don't change the person standing in front of them. They just distort what that person sees.
When I make my capacity the measure of what God can accomplish, I make myself the measuring stick for God. And that's a measuring stick that will always come up short.
Your Assignment Can Change — Your Calling Doesn't
Back in Joshua 13, God gives Joshua a specific word. He says in verse 6:
"I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel. Only allot the land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you."
Did you catch the distinction? God tells Joshua what God is going to do, and He tells Joshua what Joshua is going to do. He doesn't say, "Figure out how to become young again." He gives Joshua a specific assignment within a mission that is much bigger than Joshua himself.
This is something I think the church needs to hear. Your assignment can change with age and season of life — health, finances, family responsibilities, new chapters — but a changed assignment isn't a canceled calling. God isn't asking you to be faithful with someone else's assignment. He's asking you to be faithful with yours.
The Apostle Paul understood this deeply. In 1 Corinthians 12:15-16 and 21-22, he describes the church as a body and lets the body parts speak:
"If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body... The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable."
One body part looks at what it lacks and concludes it doesn't matter. Another looks at what it has and concludes it doesn't need anyone else. Both are wrong. My gifts don't make me indispensable, and my gaps don't make me insignificant. We are no more our gifts than we are our gaps.
The Secret Paul Discovered
In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul writes something we often misread:
"I have learned in whatever situation I am in to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
We love that last verse. We put it on gym walls and coffee mugs. But Paul wasn't saying Jesus would make him capable of anything he wanted. He was saying that Christ is sufficient in every circumstance — including the ones we cannot change or control.
God didn't eliminate Joshua's age. He didn't remove Paul's hunger. He provided what they needed to remain faithful within their limitations. And I believe He does the same for us.
Availability Over Ability
Here's the conclusion I keep coming back to, and I want to leave it with you:
I don't defeat the giant of limitations by becoming more capable. I defeat it by becoming more available to the God who is able.
God's mission has never depended on any one person doing everything. It has always required His people to trust Him with who they are and what He's placed in their hands — limitations and all. Nobody is too old, too young, too poor, or too inexperienced to be part of what God is doing.
The question isn't whether you're qualified. It isn't whether you can do everything. The question is much simpler: Are you available?
As we launch our second service next Sunday to make room for more people who need Jesus and a church family, I want to invite you to ask that question honestly. Maybe you can't do everything — none of us can. But can you invite someone? Can you serve in one small way? Can you show up and say, "God, I don't know what I can do, but I'm available"?
That's all He's ever asked. And it's always been enough.
If you want to go deeper on this, I'd love for you to watch the full message and share it with someone who might need to hear it this week.
Social Media Excerpt (Facebook/Instagram): Your limitations are real. But here's what I've been sitting with all week: they don't determine what God can do through you. Joshua was old. Paul was hungry. And God used both of them powerfully. The question isn't whether you're qualified — it's whether you're available. Read this week's message recap and share it with someone who needs to hear it. 👇
Hashtags: #AvailableNotCapable #GiantsSeriesPart5 #JoshuaChapter13 #ChurchOnline #FaithOverLimitation
No comments:
Post a Comment