God can

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

GOD CAN

Prov 21:30

30 There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.

NIV

Many men have tried to establish their own plan, their own wisdom, their own insight and it has always been found wanting, as it has not been the plan of God. We have a great example of this truth from none other than a Pharisee. When Peter and the other Apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin and told to stop talking about Jesus, Peter replied they have to obey God rather than man.

Acts 5:29-39

29 Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead — whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." 33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed them: "Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

NIV

We know because this was the plan of God that Peter and the others were successful and they were only flogged not killed and the gospel has been spread all over the world. But the Pharisee gave us the proof of the truth of this proverb. Many have started their own religious band and failed. We have seen this even in our age. Men start up some so called ministry, develop a band of followers, and it falls by the wayside in a number of years. The leaders either are found to be lairs, are arrested for some crime against their followers, then are imprisoned. Others seem to hang on, but their sphere of influence has diminished drastically. Then we have ourselves. Do we make our plans, do we develop our own wisdom, our own insight? It would seem this must be true otherwise we would not have such a multitude of denominations with differing views, with differing wisdom, differing insight, which are in a sense their own plan to live by. True they all might have the basics the same, salvation through faith in Jesus, but then the rest gets a little man-centered insight, man-generated wisdom. How do we know any of us have the right plan, the right wisdom and insights regarding God? The fact is the best we can do is listen to the Spirit. But then many say they do, and we still have differing views. Are they hearing conflicting insights from the Spirit? That cannot be, as the Spirit only testifies to the truth. What we can be sure is that God will always prevail. He will always get through all the man-created stuff and see to it his plan prevails. Man can do nothing without God. As much as we try, we will always be short of the absolute truth, unless we yield completely to God. This is giving up all we think we know, and letting God live in us as he designed us. We cannot fight against God in any way and expect to win. Even if we try to be a good Christian in our own strength, we will fail. If we try to obey all the commands of God with our own strength, we will fail. We will always feel a certain amount of guilt and shame because we are unable to keep ourselves totally free of some sort of sin. We cannot give ourselves grace. We cannot forgive our own sin. We cannot justify ourselves, we cannot make ourselves holy and blameless, but God can. So we are left with one truth, we cannot, God can.