We often sing about our God, praising Him and declaring our
beliefs.
But … what do you and I really believe about the Lord?
How do we picture Jesus?
Perhaps our picture of Him reveals His passion, such as
when, with a whip in hand, He drove
the moneychangers out of His Father’s House of Prayer. Perhaps we see Him tenderly
lifting a widow’s son off his death carriage and giving him back to his mother.
Or perhaps we see Him gathering up the little children to snuggle on His lap. Possibly
we see Him compassionately feeding the thousands that gathered to hear Him
speak in the wilderness. Do we picture Him purposeful and assertive as He spoke
truth in the face of hypocritical religious leaders?
These are among the many “pictures” we see in Scripture. But
one thing is for certain, we see Him choosing to boldly without hindrance walk
out His Father’s plan and purpose for His life.
Jesus was and is
unhindered. That’s the truth of Scripture.
Our God is unhindered.
No one can stop Him or thwart His plans. From Genesis 37, we
learn Joseph dreamed—twice—that his family would bow down to him. Even his
father, Jacob, found that difficult to hear. In verse 20, as they plotted to
get rid of Joseph, his brothers said “we’ll see what becomes of his dreams.” But,
God’s plans were unhindered by
theirs.
The cross is another example. That certainly backfired in
the enemy’s face! To his chagrin, he found he’d now have to deal with temples—houses
of prayer—all over the world! God’s plan!
Our God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and on His
throne. He can make a way when there is no way. Jeremiah 32:17, 27 remind us
that nothing—nada—is too hard for Him.
Christine Caine wrote:
“…nothing can hinder
His plan. …
No promise is too hard for God to keep.
No prayer is too hard for God to answer.
No problem is too hard for God to solve.
No person is too hard for God to save.
No mountain is too big for God to move.
No need is too great for God to meet.
There is nothing our God cannot do!”
Our God is unhindered:
unblocked, unbound, unbridled,
unchanged in His character and eternal plan; He is unconfined, unconstrained,
uncontrolled, undefeated, never undone, unencumbered, unfettered, unimpeded,
uninhibited, unmoved from His purposes, unobstructed, unprevented, unreserved, unrestrained,
unrestricted.
Our God is unhindered!
Do we believe it?
Job did. He said—
If He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You
doing?’
Job 9:12 (NKJ)
But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does.
Job 23:13 (NASB)
Even the foreign ruler Nebuchadnezzar recognized God is unhindered. Daniel 4:35
The Pharisee Gamaliel, Paul’s Rabbi, knew this when he told
the Jewish Council, “if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it.” Acts 5:39
The Lord God Himself in His own words confirms this truth. Just read Isaiah 14:24, 27.
Tozer wrote: “God moves undisturbed and unhindered toward the fulfillment of those eternal purposes that He
purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
Do we believe it?
Dorothy Sayers wrote: “The people who hanged Christ never,
to do them justice, accused him of being a bore—on the contrary, they thought
him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to
muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of
tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah,
certified him ‘meek and mild,’ and recommended him as a fitting household pet
for pale curates and pious old ladies.”
And Jill Carattini wrote: “God who moves unhindered among ordinary people,
touching life and history, is not the tame and therapeutic being we
attempt to package.”
That’s what Job recognized of God when he said, “I know that
you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.” (42:2)
Chris Jordan wrote: “Regardless of the circumstances, God is
powerful, and He is not thwarted, He is not contained, He is not opposed by man
in a way that prohibits Him.”
Take a Selah moment to think about these statements.
Our God is unhindered.
In the Book of Revelation, we are reminded by Jesus Himself—He
was there in the beginning, at the very end He will be there, and He is in control of everything in
between. He is standing today in the
midst of His Church. His eternal plan
is progressing. He is unhindered!
So, how should we respond?
Romans 14:7, in the Amplified Bible, says, “None of us lives for himself
[for his own benefit, but for the Lord], and none of us dies for himself [but
for the Lord].”
In Mark 12:41-44, Jesus was at the temple watching people put
money into the temple treasury. He pointed to a widow who, though obviously
poor, put in everything—all. In essence, she “stepped” into the offering plate.
BUT, what could have hindered her?
Because our enemy sees believers—us—as those who threaten
his territory, he will plot and scheme to slow us down and/or stop us. In the
Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis alerted us to the fact that one of the devil’s
main aims is to hinder, especially to hinder our prayers. To instead do that to him—to hinder him, we
need to throw off what hinders as the writer of Hebrews 12:1 tells us.
What things do you need to drop at the cross? Fear…worry…unforgiveness…anger…bitterness…?
By throwing these things off, we are enabled to get up and
move forward unhindered. The truth
is we cannot go from here to there without leaving “here.” But, Michael Youssef
wrote, “the same Lord who saved your soul and has sustained so many others will
enable you to overcome—all the way to the finish line.”
So, let’s make sure we are not carrying anything that hinders
our God’s power in our lives. Let’s drop those hindrances, those stones, so we
are free and unhindered to move
forward in boldness. Remember, we have a High Priest who is not only able to empathize
with our weaknesses but is able to give us what we need to be unhindered by them.
That is because—
Our God is unhindered!
