332. THE LIMITATIONS OF MAN

(The Abundant Life Series – Batch 4)

Isn’t it ironic, that most human beings are so full of themselves, that, in their minds, they have pushed God into oblivion, denying that he and his Son the Lord Jesus Christ exist and living life how they please? They would rather believe that there are aliens out there somewhere, which is utter nonsense and perpetuate this false narrative through movies, reports of alleged “sightings” and the like but choose to disbelief God’s Word the Bible and the sure testimony he has given in it.

The Word of God says, given that God is of infallible character, that he cannot lie (Titus 1:2). Numbers 23:19 further implies, given how great he is, that God, not being on our lowly human level but being the supreme God, has no reason to resort to untruths, as man does. It declares, “God is not a man, that he should lie…”. In the event therefore, that there is any disparity between what God has said and what man promotes, the truth is always on God’s side. Romans 3 says clearly, “…yea, let God be true, but every man a liar…”.

God in his mercy and faithfulness, has allowed mankind to have his Word the Bible, in which are contained truthful accounts of what transpired in the past, explanations as to what is happening in the present and insight, as to what is sure to take place in the future. We are therefore in a privileged position to be in possession of this good book, the greatest book on earth, which was written and compiled by men that God inspired to write. It tells us truthfully of where we came from and of what God, our Creator, expects of us.

Yet, mankind in his rebellion, has turned his back on God and in pride, has, like a petulant child, denied that he exists. Even if some claim to believe that he exists, they deny his Son the Lord Jesus Christ who came to earth and died as an atonement for man’s sin and therefore, in so doing, they also deny God. 1 John 2:23 tells us quite clearly and without exception, “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.”

Then there are those who claim to know God and claim to be Christians yet do not obey what he and his Son the Lord Jesus Christ have instructed them to do. How we are to live is clear in the Bible, which is the Word of God but often times, mankind blocks his ears and pretends not to hear because he does not want the Lord Jesus Christ, the one to whom all power and authority has been given, to rule over him. He wants to have the preeminence over his own life.

What mankind is suffering from is a pride problem and the source of this is sin. Although formed from the dust of the earth and being a mere mortal, he has elevated himself to the point where he believes that no one should tell him what to do and how to live but that he should tell himself what is right and what is wrong. He has dismissed God as irrelevant and nothing more than a nuisance and lives life as if he brought himself into this world and has power over everything.

Yet, it is often said that pride makes one delusional and in the case of human beings that have turned their backs on their Creator, refusing to account to him and the way that he has said they should live, they demonstrate that they are deluded by this foolish and self-detrimental action.

Mankind in his pride, has forgotten his limitations. He is not all-powerful, all-knowing and in control of everything, which he so oft forgets but there is one who sits on the throne on high, that is all these things.

Mankind is so full of himself generally and so high and lifted up (in his mind), that he often forgets some humbling truths about his temporary existence on this earth. Some of these are as follows:

1. Mankind forgets that, while people have invented many things since the beginning of their existence to date, there is nothing that they made or could make, without utilizing material that God already provided or left here on earth.

If God had placed us here on earth with nothing, we would not have been where we are today with all of these things that have been made. Had he not not made material available, people, as brilliant as they were could not have begun to make or design what they did. For, they do not have power as God has, to make anything out of nothing.

God simply called the world into existence with his mouth and it was created. He said “Let there be” and it was. This is not an art for man to master. He can speak all he wants, he cannot create anything from his lips. This is a trait belonging only to God, as he and he alone is the all-powerful one. He does nothing by accident and therefore, he has deliberately left all sorts of materials here on earth, so that mankind would be able to use it to make what he needs to make.

Sadly because God has given us choice and therefore, we can choose good or evil, mankind has exploited this privilege and used material that he has found here, to make evil things. The list of evil things that have been made from mankind’s existence to date is long and includes inventions like guns, bombs, bad medications, evil books and so on.

Nonetheless, none of what mankind makes takes God by surprise. In his sovereignty, as the all-knowing one, he knew of all that mankind would make, whether good or evil.

On another note, given that God has the power to speak things into existence but mankind does not, it is not true really to say that people have created things. God is the only Creator, as he relies on no material to make what he desires to make. He made Adam out of nothing and the only reason why he made Eve out of Adam’s rib was because he wanted to. He could have easily spoken her into existence, as he had done Adam, if he wished. Yet, he had purpose on his mind when he made Eve through the method that he chose and he is the all-wise God. Yet, what he did was still miraculous. For, there is no man alive or that ever will be, that can make a living, breathing human being, a woman, from the rib of a man.

By contrast, while God creates, as is evidenced daily around us, mankind depends on God to provide the materials for everything that they make. Mankind has no power to create the materials he needs to make what he wishes to make. When mankind invents something, he can therefore be said to have made stuff but not to have created it. The two are often used interchangeably but they are different. To create means to make from scratch, without reliance on any external material, whereas to make, implies that existing materials will be manipulated to develop something.

It is important for mankind to remember, that he is limited in his inventions, to utilizing the materials that he came and met on this earth.

2. Mankind forgets that this world predated him. No matter how important a man thinks he is, he came and met the world here and if time permits, will also go and leave it here.

As great as he thinks he is, the world got by just fine without him before he entered and it will continue to get by just fine when he is no more. The world has never revolved around anyone, no matter who it is. He could be a high profile figure like a celebrity, a politician or a billionaire. Irrespective of who he is, when he passes this life, people may temporarily recognize him and his contribution but they will move on and live their lives as if he never existed. A person once said and it is true, “We live as though we’ll never die and die as though we never lived.” The fact of the matter is, for all those people who think that they are so great, the fact of the matter is that they cannot escape the fact that they are mortal and that they are not invincible. The time will come, if time permits, where they will give up the ghost. They will die. One day they’re on top of the world, the next they are beneath it.

That mankind is mortal and replaceable are truthful limitations that they would do well to consider. There are no VIPs in the grave and definitely none when they stand before God at the end of their lives, in Judgment.

3. Mankind forgets that people need the rain and the sun to survive.

Without these, they would die, as the rain and sun are needed for the plants to grow and the rain is needed for animals, which we consume and ourselves, to have drinking water. Imagine if God were to decide to stop sending rain. All of mankind’s reserves would dry up, the rivers, creeks and other water streams would dry up and we would all die of thirst. Similarly, the animals that we consume would die and so would the plant life. We would therefore have nothing to eat and will therefore die from hunger, if not thirst.

It is humbling to note that, although the rain and the sun are necessities to our existence based on how God designed it, none of us have any control over them. We cannot will the sun to shine or divert the rain away. We cannot tell them when to come and when to go as God is the one that holds the reins of control over them. They do whatever he wants them to do, when he wants them to do it. The same holds true of all weather in general. God is the Lord over the seasons, like winter, summer, autumn and spring. The elements, which He created, do whatever he has purposed and bow according to his will because he made them. They therefore belong to Him, not man and therefore, no matter who a man is or how much money he has, neither he or any nation or a group of collective nations have any power to influence any of these things. They simply have to accept what God decides to do and observe the weather patterns that he has designed. None can alter them or manipulate them to their advantage or to anyone’s detriment.

Matthew 5:45 states of God that, “…he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Job 37: 5-13 states:

“God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength. He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work. ..Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north. By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them uoon the face of the world in the earth. He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.”

4. Mankind also has no control over natural disasters, like earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and the like. The riches of the world’s richest person are rendered useless in redirecting a storm.

There is no amount of money that mankind can pay or no amount of so-called earthly intelligence that he can have, that can thwart the elements, the weather or natural disasters. He is simply helpless when it comes to these and has no choice but to weather as best as he can, whatever God in his sovereignty, allows. This is indeed a humbling fact to remember, reminding us that mankind is not really all that, as they say. He is not as important or as powerful as he thinks he is. He is endlessly limited and God has designed some of these things all around us, to remind us of same.

5. Mankind forgets that his body has been designed in such a way, that it must receive nutrients in order to survive. These nutrients mankind has not a clue how to make from scratch and must therefore rely on the plants and animals to get them.

Whether it be vitamin A, B, C or D, God has in his wisdom, put nutrients and vitamins in the plants and animals that he created. If a man thinks that he is so great therefore, that he needs nothing from God, then he should avoid consuming the plants and the animals that God has placed on this earth and see what happens. He will shrivel up like the pathetic mortal he is and die! It is definitely not coincidence that mankind has entered a world that has everything he needs to survive. It is God that designed it and planned it and brought it into being. Like children that cannot fend for themselves and rely of necessity on their parents for sustenance, we are utterly dependent on God’s provision to survive. Jacob understood this. Having been through much in his lifetime, including a grievous famine, in his old age, he acknowledged that he had been kept alive by God, who had sustained him, stating, “…the God which fed me all my life long unto this day…” (Genesis 48:15).

How does the atheist and those who foolishly believe in evolution, explain how it is, that the very nutrients our bodies need are found generously in the plants and animals around us? Is this not by design and from one with greater superiority and wisdom than ours? Does it make sense to deny this, when all that we see around us every day, proves us wrong?

God’s Word the Bible tells us:

“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1: 19-20)

Verses 21-32 continues:

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful; Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them”.

6. Mankind forgets that he had no say in the decision that was made to create him and to create him as a human being, as opposed to an animal or an insect or a plant or something else. He also had no say in the decision that was made for him to be born as a man or as a woman, although some foolishly, rebelliously, pridefully and futilely, try to change this after they have been born. Furthermore, mankind had no say in what he would look like, what his talents would be, his race, his eventual height or the family that he would be born into. He had no control over when he would be born, even as he has no control over when he will die or how.

No matter what he does or who he is or how much money he possesses or who he knows, he cannot avoid death when God designates it to come or through the method that he allows. Death is therefore the greatest agent of humility of all. I have heard people speaking boldly, as if life is in their hands, that they will live until one hundred and some even to beyond this age. They then get to work to eat what they regard as the healthiest of foods, even condemning foods that God has sanctioned in his Word as good for consumption. Yet, the reality of it all is that they have not a clue how long they will live and no control over it whatsoever. You can eat the healthiest of foods and then die in an accident or just simply not wake up one morning. You can eat the healthiest of foods and exercise and still die from cancer or a heart attack or a stroke. Make no mistake, while it is good to care for our bodies and we should not neglect to do what is good for it, this will in no way prolong our lives. We will all leave this earth when God has purposed for us to leave it. He alone knows when that shall be, not another soul. All of our efforts to cling to life are therefore futile. It would be better spent if we focused on what the Bible says about eternal life and how we can attain it, after death.

7. Mankind also had no control over where he would be born, whether in the United States, in Russia, in a Caribbean country or elsewhere and in what circumstances.

He came into this world and was born in the place that God in his sovereignty, allowed him to be born, at the time that God purposed for him to be born and to the parents that God allowed him to have. By the time you arrived into this world, the decision had already been made by God to bring you into it, for his divine purposes. Your parents were physically intimate yes and they may have hoped for a child but although God used them as a medium, they had no power to ensure that the end result would be you. Only God could do that. Your parents could have easily been intimate and had a child that was not you. They also had no power over how you would look and neither did you. Some people are born with greater intelligence than others or it is cultivated along the way but this was not of their own doing and therefore, they have nothing of which to boast. Isn’t it amazing that some people boast about their abilities, like being able to sing well or their good looks or their physical features or the so-called pedigree of the family that they were born into, when they had no say over any of this? What they have is what God graced them to have and should therefore not be a reason to boast. Had they created themselves or had a say in it and gave themselves what they have, then maybe they could have but this was not the case. They are the result of a series of predeterminations made by the sovereign God.

This is reason to be humble, as it reminds us that we don’t really have control over a whole host of things, including our existence. We are here because God willed it to be so and not because we decided to be. To be alive is therefore a privilege and a gift from God and we should be thankful to him instead of puffing ourselves up with pride.

8. Mankind forgets that it is God that gives conception and allows people to be born into the world.

It does not matter how much a couple exercises, how healthy they eat, what supplements or health products they take or what technology they resort to for assistance. If God wills a woman to be barren, as he sometimes does, there isn’t a thing that she can do about it. If he wills a couple to not have a child, even if the woman is fertile, there may be a problem with the man’s ability to procreate. Even when the doctors find nothing whatsoever wrong physically or medically with both the man and the woman, sometimes that couple still remains childless because God has not given them conception. This could be for a season until he is ready to grant them a child or children or it could be a lifetime. I have heard couples boldly stating that they are going to start a family or that they are going to have a particular number of children or that they are ready to have children and I am always amazed. How do they know that they will ever get the opportunity to be parents? No one can possibly know beforehand if God will give them conception. They should humbly be saying therefore, if the Lord will or we are trusting the Lord to do this or that or we are hoping by God’s grace to have this or that. The pride in which they often speak though, clearly highlights the fact that they have left God completely out of the equation, as if he has no say in the business of procreation. Some of them only remember him and try to include him, when the years begin to roll on and despite their best efforts, no child comes. Some conceive but don’t ever make it to delivery due to miscarriages and others deliver a baby that is stillborn. At the end of the day, when a live baby comes forth into this world, it is not to be taken for granted. For, it is God that miraculously formed him when in his mother’s womb and breathed into him His spirit of life.

God told Jeremiah the prophet, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

The scriptures are full of examples of women who had children and in most if not all of those cases, it makes it clear that God was the one that gave conception. He is the one, as the giver of life, that is able to give people children. They can be as physically intimate as they wish, this does not guarantee that they will ever have children.

In Genesis 48:9, Joseph had enough sense to know that it was God that had given him the children that he had and not himself. When his father asked him in Genesis 48:8 “Who are these?”, Joseph replied, “They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place.” (vs.9)

While Peninnah was busy laughing at Hannah because she (Peninnah) had children but Hannah was barren and therefore had none, Hannah, knowing full well that it was God that gave conception and the ability to have children and that he could revive any barren womb, went to him and poured out her heart in prayer. She requested of him (no one else) a child and God answered. It says “and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her.” (1 Samuel 1:19).

This last part was important. By saying that Elkanah knew his wife, meant that he was physically intimate with her. Yet, he had been physically intimate with her on may occasions before, them having been years into their marriage. We know this because it says that Peninnah had children and that for years, she taunted Hannah about her inability to conceive. Yet, their physical intimacy in the past had been futile to produce the results. No child ever came from such a union. However, after Hannah prayed to God fervently and humbly asked him for a child, things changed. God used their physical act to bring about the miracle and allowed Hannah for the first time, to conceive. He also took her through the pregnancy safely, gave her strength to deliver the child, a living child and spared her life in the process.

There is so much that God does in the procreation process but we take it for granted, until we find ourselves in difficulty. If it was not for his grace, the mother of a child could have died in the delivery process, as some women, like Rachel in the Bible did. All and in all, it is God that makes the decision, no matter what physical act human beings engage in, if a healthy living child will come from that union, not man.

In Sarah’s case, although she had been barren for most of her marriage with Abraham and was old in years, God promised Abraham that he would allow her to have a child and made good on that promise.

In Genesis 17:19, it reads, “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac…” In chapter 21:1-2, at the time that God had purposed, it says, “And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken, For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.”

When Isaac was grown and was married, his wife Rebekah had problems conceiving as well. Given that it was God that gave conception and had the ability to open any barren womb, Isaac went to God by faith, even as Hannah had done and prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife.

The scriptures state in Genesis 25:21, “And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.”

Jacob, the son of Isaac, had two wives initially, Leah and Rachel, two sisters. He loved Rachel though but not Leah. In Genesis 29:31 it says, “And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.”

When Rachel realized that Leah was having babies but she could not, instead of going to God with her petition as Hannah and Isaac had done, she went to her husband in desperation and demanded that he get her pregnant. Of course, him being only a man and only capable of being physically intimate with her but no more, could not. He understood that it was God’s decision to make, whether to allow her to have a child or not. Genesis 30:1-2 states:

“And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?”

It seems that Rachel eventually came to her senses and took her request to God as, some years later, it states in Genesis 30:22-24:

“And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to herm and opened her womb. And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach. And she called his name Joseph: and said, The Lord shall add to me another son.”

Indeed, God did give her another son, Benjamin but he did not allow her to survive the delivery. She died in childbirth.

In the New Testament, we also learn of a married couple called Elizabeth and Zacharias, both of whom were righteous before God and obeying his Word (Luke 1:6). Yet, for most of their marriage, they remained childless, although they had prayed to God. It shows that living right before God and him being pleased with your life, does not guarantee that he will give you children at all or in the time that you hope to have them. In their old age through, at the time that God had appointed, he sent an angel to communicate to Zacharias, that Elizabeth would have a child. Verse 13 states, “But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.”

God could have his angel pronounce with such a degree of certainty because he holds the keys to conception. In fact, he holds the keys over everything, including that which pertains to mankind.

Mankind should therefore remember that he is limited. When it comes to his being born or his bringing other children into the world, none of it could have happened unless God had decided to allow it, whether through his perfect will or his permissible will.

Children coming into the world are not coincidental. If a person conceives and brings a living child into this world, it has only happened because God allowed it. He may not have approved of the path taken towards pregnancy (for example, a woman may have engaged in an act of fornication or adultery, which are sexual immorality and became pregnant as a result). However, the fact that the person conceived, carried the baby to term and delivered it alive, only occurred because God in his sovereignty, decided to permit it to happen, not the sin act but the child being born into the world.

God has the power to close wombs (as he did with Rachel and the people who lived in the household of Abimelech) and he has the power to open wombs, as he did with Sarah, Hannah and Elizabeth.

In the case of Abimelech, the king of Gerar, he had taken Sarah at one point when Abraham and Sarah were staying in his land. He had mistakenly been led to believe that Sarah was not Abraham’s wife, not attached to anyone and therefore, captivated by her beauty, he had taken her for his own.

However, once God revealed to him in a dream that Sarah was another man’s wife and thankfully, before he had committed adultery by sleeping with her, he restored her to Abraham, as it would have been sinful to take a married woman and to have sexual relations with her.

The Word of God then states that Abraham prayed to God and that that in response, God healed Abimelech, his wife and his maidservants. For, from the moment Abimelech had taken Abraham’s wife, as a consequence, God had immediately closed the wombs of all the women in his household and seemingly, had made Abimelech sterile as well. Upon Abraham’s prayer though, he reversed what he had done which was a curse and caused them to be fertile again.

Genesis 20:17-18 states:

“So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.”

God’s involvement, after having formed a baby in the womb, in causing that child to come out safely and alive is also clear in the scriptures. In Job 10:18, Job acknowledged that it was God that brought him forth out of the womb. In his pain, he questioned God as to why he had been born. He said, “Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!”

David said something similar in Psalm 29:9-11. Giving God all the credit for his birth, he told him, “But thou art he that took me out of the womb: Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: Thou art my God from my mother’s belly.“

9. Mankind forgets that he has no control over the ageing process.

There is nothing that he can do to stop it. Even if he invents all sorts of products and supplement which claim to keep people young, people will grow old, if they live long enough. They will grey, their bodies will become feeble and they will suffer from the effects of old age. No amount of makeup, botox, surgical procedure or otherwise, has the power to halt the ageing process. From the time we are born, we age, hence the reason that the question is asked to all, how old are you? Mankind wishes that he could have control over this area or that youth could be something that he could package and sell. The rich would have been prepared to pay a fortune to attain same and some would have even hoarded the product for themselves and their families.

Yet because mankind is limited, God has not given him jurisdiction into matters such as these. Mankind is limited in understanding, limited in knowledge and limited in power.

He is not in charge of this world and the universe as he likes to think but is merely a creature in it. There is only one on the throne and his Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom. Mankind cannot usurp or overthrow it, although they have been trying and based on what God’s Word says, will foolishly continue to try.

Yet, the Lord will remain King of Kings and Lord of Lords for ever (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14) and when Jesus returns at the time that God has appointed to bring this world to an end, he will put all earthly power, which is temporary, under his feet.

1 Corinthians 15:24 and 28 state of that time:

“Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”

(Written on 16^th February, 2024)

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