Lesson #5
Deuteronomy 8:3, "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live."
Our part of the verse to study this morning is that which says, "which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know." There is a lot to be said about what we don't know. As a matter of fact, the name "Google" about sums it all up! The older I get, it seems the less I know. At the same time, our biggest problem is not in what we don't know, but what we can't recall or retrieve from memory. There is still much, however, that we just plainly do not know.
Let's take this a step further. What do you not know about God? Since God is an infinite Being, even what we know about God is the equivalent of nothing, for we are no closer to knowing Him more than before! Our knowledge of God is limited by two things (I could be corrected here) 1. Our knowledge, belief, and adherence to doctrine, and 2. Our imagination. We are told of a man, a lord, who had lost his imagination in 2 Kings 7:2, "Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof." If we lose our imagination, we have lost our hope. If you leave here with anything this morning, leave with this, GOD CAN DO ANYTHING!
God can do anything in Our Provision. In our verse we are reminded that just because we have not seen it, does not mean that God can't do it. It even talks about the generation before and that their knowledge had fallen short of God's great provision. Isaiah 43:19 tells us, "Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." God loves to do new things. Jesus whole ministry was marked by this thought as it was said of Him in Mark 2:12, "they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion."
God can do anything in Our Prayer. Do you believe in prayer? We don't pray because we don't believe. We don't receive because we don't pray. Yet it is God that told His people in Jeremiah 33:3, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." Oh, how I want to hear those things that I have never heard! How I want to see those things that I have never known!
God can do anything in His Plans. God does not have to report to us. As a matter of fact, we don't have to know what God has planned. We just have to follow! There are many things that God has told us about the future. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." This revelation, however, is not all at once. It is a daily walk, a constant filling, a dedicated study, and a willful trust that pleases God and illumines us to His revelation. Isaiah 45:3 says, "And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel." I hope this makes you want to study the precious Word! Another verse that blesses me is Deuteronomy 29:29, "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." God will reveal those "secrets" according to His will as we follow Him and serve Him obediently.
God can do anything in His Power. I'll say this, the Devil knows what God can do. He tried to even tempt Him with His own power. Matthew 4:3 says, "And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." That is quite an imagination! How is it that the Devil himself believes in God's power more than God's own children? May we have the same view of the power of our God as the Psalmist said in 136:4, "To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever." If for some reason you are yet skeptical of the power of God or of His love to you, please hear Revelation 19:6 loudly, "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."