Monday, April 3, 2017
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I looked, I blinked, I looked again, and I still wasn't sure what I was seeing. We were driving next to a railroad track and I saw this vehicle moving along the railroad track, but it wasn't a train. It was a pickup truck. Now, he's moving right along the track like a train, but he's a truck? Let's see, trucks have tires, railroads have tracks. Tires don't ride on tracks. I see a problem here. Well, as I looked closer I realized what was going on. This was a maintenance truck for the railroad, specially modified to run on tracks. It was mounted with these special train wheels extending out from both the front and the back of the pickup. Kind of cool! So because he had been specially outfitted, he was able to go where he normally could never go!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Going Where You Thought You Couldn't."
Since I feel like the Lord wanted me to talk about this today, it wouldn't surprise me at all if it's because you're headed into something that you're not sure you can handle. In fact, you may be almost sure you can't. Maybe there's a burden you're going to have to carry or you are carrying, or there's a challenge or an assignment that you have in front of you, or some possibilities that may be frightening or exciting, or maybe a little of both.
Well, your Lord, who may very well be the One leading you into something you're sure you can't handle, wanted you to be encouraged today with this word for today from the Word of God. Psalm 18:31, "For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?" Now notice who is the subject of the promises of the following verses; notice the one doing what the verbs say will happen.
"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." I can hear you say, "Well, boy, I don't know if I've got the strength for this." God says, "Right, you don't. But I'm going to outfit you with strength you've never had, because you've never needed it like this before. But you're going to have it." Psalm 18 continues, "He makes my feet like the feet of a deer." This sounds strangely like a railroad saying to a pickup truck, "I will make your wheels like the wheels of a train."
God says He'll give you feet like a deer. Why? Well, it says, "He enables me to stand on the height." That means standing where you never could stand except that He's going to custom outfit you for what He's asking you to do. He's never going to take you where He won't keep you. He's never going to ask you to do something for which He will not equip you.
Then it says, "He trains my hands for battle." Maybe you're saying, "I don't know how to do this," God says, "I'll show you how." And then it says, "...my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me Your shield of victory, and Your right hand sustains me...You broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not turn." So God says I'll get the road ready for you so you don't have to worry about falling.
See, God is fully committed to providing all you need to do what He is telling you to do. Those who've never risked going where they never thought they could go have never seen God at His most amazing and His most miraculous. You'll never walk on water if you don't get out of the boat.
See, God is custom fitting you for the road ahead, for the assignment ahead. He's enlarging you to be what you'll need to be, and He's even clearing the track ahead of you. Sounds to me like you're ready to roll.