Episode Description
All things are under God’s control and he has the divine authority to allocate or reallocate absolutely anything he wishes.
Where does he send his blessings? To the hands where he will get the glory.
Where does he open heaven’s storehouses? Where his kingdom work is being accomplished.
The question is, will he get the glory if his blessings go to your hands? Will his kingdom work be accomplished if the storehouses of heaven are opened to you?
It’s easy to assume the opportunity to have MORE would allow you to honor God more, but sadly, humans have proven for generations that we simply do not fare well with easy, comfortable, abundant lives. It’s like giving a brand new sports car to a 16 year old … that typically makes that teenager one thing – DANGEROUS!
We are often dangerous when we are given more. We make life about the pursuit of more, showing off more, caring for our more, and then getting newer and better of our more. We forget it’s all under God’s control and divine authority, and anything God has given, he can quickly take away. He can reallocate your blessings to a different set of hands so fast that your head spins.
It might be yours today, but can you be trusted with it tomorrow?
It might NOT be yours today, but God is always looking for where his blessings can go and bring him glory.
In our study of the book of Exodus, we see the Egyptians had become very wealthy. Pharaoh lived in absolutely luxury. Anything he wanted, he could have. But Pharaoh continually refused the Lord. He denied the power of God’s hand over and over again. And God allowed it – for a season. He allowed Egypt to accumulate wealth. He allowed an overflowing abundance in Pharaoh’s palace. And all while God allowed it, never forget God was still in complete control of it all.
God had a plan for his resources. He had a plan for his blessings. He had a plan for his power. No matter what the circumstances might look like, God’s plan stood and it would unfold perfectly. Let’s look at the plan.
First, God promises Moses in Exodus 3 that he would transfer the wealth of Egypt to the Israelite slaves. Now that makes absolutely no sense at all. The Israelites had nothing of their own. They lived in poverty. They had no army to fight for the possession of anything. Eygypt not only had all the wealth, they had all the man-power to protect it. And yet God makes it very clear that his plan is to reallocate these blessings Egypt temporarily and ungratefully held, to the desperate, god-fearing Israelites.
After the plagues hit the Egyptians, God reveals to Moses in Exodus 11 how his previous promise would take place. He says, “Tell the Israelite men and women to ask their Egyptian neighbors for articles of silver and gold. (Now the Lord had caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the people of Israel.)”
Then, the time comes for the Israelites to believe God’s plan and actually DO IT. Now that’s important – they had an active role to play. God had the plan, but they had a part. (My sister, God always has a plan, but you always have a part too! Don’t miss that.). Exodus 12, the Israelite slaves ask their Egyptian owners for their treasures of wealth, and everything they asked for was given to them. They completely stripped the Egyptians of their wealth!
There was no war. There was no battle. There was a divine reallocation of what always belonged to God. God said it would be given to the Israelites when they asked – so they asked, and it was all given!
Amazing. Right about now, you might be thinking to yourself, “Gosh, it’s about time I ask for a raise!” Or, “Hey, I need to ask for even more in this situation.” It’s funny how human minds work. But God is not fooled. God knows who can be trusted and who can’t be. He knows what more blessings would do to you.
My mentor once shared a valuable piece of wisdom with me. He said, “Pamela, more money only makes you more of who you already are.” If you’re already stressed, more money will make you more stressed. (I know if you’re currently struggling to pay rent you’re thinking that can’t possibly be true, but it’s human nature and it’s never wrong.) If you’re already greedy, more money will make you more greedy. If you’re already self-conscious, more money will make you more self-conscious. If you’re already wasteful, more money will make you more wasteful.
But, if you’re already generous when you have so little, more money will make you more generous. If you’re already at peace with little, you’ll have even more peace when you have more. Money reveals the true hidden nature within us. It doesn’t cure anything, it only magnifies everything.
What if we worked harder on becoming a better person within instead of all the effort we put into chasing money, chasing beauty, chasing comforts and chasing applause.
God has a plan for all that is his, and remember, it’s ALL HIS! His plan stands and will never fail. If God can reallocate the wealth of Egypt to their Israelite slaves, then you better believe he can pour out a few blessings on you when you get your heart right and your hands open. And I don’t mean open hands as in “gimme-gimme-gimme”, I mean open hands as in, “God, it’s all yours, I hold nothing back – I trust you fully.”
Why would God’s plan be to give the 2 million slaves the fortunes of the people who had held them captive for 400 years? Justice? Repayment? Yes, perhaps – but it was bigger than that. Let me show you God’s bigger picture in the promise – flip forward several chapters in Exodus to 25 and you’ll see why God reallocated his fortunes and blessings from the Egyptians to the Israelites. The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to bring me their sacred offerings. Accept the contributions from all whose hearts are moved to offer them. Accept gold, silver, bronze, stone and jewels … Then have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.”
Now where exactly would these former slaves now living in the wilderness possibly get all this gold, all this silver, and all these jewels? Oh yes – they had taken it with them when they left Egypt! They had followed God’s instructions and asked for the wealth of Egypt and now with open hands they would offer it back to build a holy sanctuary for the Lord!
The entire point of it all was so that God could be in close relationship with his people. He moved the wealth from the people who wouldn’t honor him, to the people who would. He moved his blessings from a greedy ruler to a people who would give God the glory.
This was the big picture of God’s plan! He made the promise to Moses in chapter 3, he gave the instructions for action in chapter 11, the people did what God said in chapter 12, and now in chapter 25, we see what God was doing all along.
God’s abundant resources, his treasures, his blessings were for the purpose of bringing his people closer to him. Now, the transferred wealth of Egypt was being used to build a sanctuary where the Spirit of God would live and his people could seek him.
This is what God is still up to today. He moves his blessings and reallocates his treasures to those who will give him the glory. He opens the storehouses of heaven to where his kingdom work will be prioritized. He opens the doors that will bringing his people into a closer relationship with him.
He knows who he can trust – and he knows who will be consumed by the blessings and make it all about them.
I once had a successful business with a whole lot of money. Funny thing was, I spent more money than I made. The more I made, the more I spent. I totally lost myself in the process and God was crowded right out of my busy schedule. My entire life became about the show. My well-dressed little family was part of the show. The big house looked great in the show.
Then God let it all come crashing down. Someone else now lives in the big house we built. Someone else now has the business I traded an entire season of my life for. THANK GOD HE DIDN’T LET ME STAY IN MY SELF-ABSORBED SUCCESS!!!!
Eventually it all came crashing down and we were wildly humbled. That’s when God went to work on me. He realigned my priorities and taught me what was truly important. He allowed me to be broke, allowed my formerly perfected body to go through menopause, allowed me to be talked about, allowed my heart to be broken and disappointed. And it left me with a will that desires his will above everything else and open hands that can be trusted.
None of it is mine – it’s all God’s. And he holds the divine power and authority to allocate or reallocate what is his at absolutely any time. He has a plan. His plan is to send what is his to the hands where he will get the glory. His plan is to send his power to the places where his kingdom work will be done.
He did it in Exodus – and he’s still doing it today. Check your hands, Sis – because God certainly is.
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