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Limiting God

January 10, 2023
01042023WEEKLYDEVOS

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6, NIV).

A Christian doctor in Albania shared two stories with me. One of her physician friends shared the story of his pregnant wife who had developed a serious complication, threatening her life. They were told they should abort the baby or lose both the child and the mother. He and his wife are Christian. As they were struggling with the decision, an angel came to him in a dream and told him, “You will have a son and name him Luke.” His wife is now healthy and is raising Luke in the Lord.

The second story was about an Islamic man who had refractory ITP with platelets of 5,000 despite all possible therapies. One day he appeared with normal platelets, and she asked him why. He had visited a Muslim Holy place and drank of the holy water.

What do I do with this? Do I assume one was a miracle from God and deny the other? Do I believe both were saved by natural causes? Do I believe God was present and active in both healings?

We know there is only one way to the Father through Christ Jesus our Lord. Does that prevent God from working in lives of those who do not know Him? Does God have plans we do not understand, plans of love that touch those who do not yet follow Him? The Bible clearly tells us that all have sinned and are headed to death forever without Him unless we believe that Jesus was God incarnated, that He died for us, rose again—that we believe with a commitment to follow. This biblical truth is indisputable as it comes from the mouth of our Lord Himself. But how He enters the world for those who are lost is His business, not mine. I think we need to be careful not to limit the love and power of God to fit within our doctrine.

Oswald Chambers wrote: “Give God ‘elbow room;’ let Him come into His universe as He pleases”—even if He does so with sinners and non-believers, just like Jesus did.

I don’t know how our Lord can use Muslim holy water to redeem the world and magnify His glory, but I don’t doubt He can.

Dear God,
Let me be continually amazed at the way you enter our world, knowing how much you love us.
Amen

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