Putting God In A Box

“How often they provoked Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.”
(Psalm 78:40-41)

                If you’ve ever owned a pet and some sort of cage, then you probably have a good idea what this verse is about.  If you own a dog, there might be times when you need to put him in a kennel – so he won’t destroy the house, use the bathroom on the carpet, etc.  That said, a kennel is a temporary solution to a temporary problem, but it’s not intended to be a long-term home for your dog.  Why?  If a dog lives his entire life in a kennel, he will never develop completely and reach his full potential.

                  I guess you could all that “keeping dog in a box,” and we would say it is inhumane to keep a dog locked in a box all the time.  And yet, we often seem to have no problem putting God in a box.  Of course, none of us can physically capture the Lord and confine Him to a box, nor would we want to.  Putting God in a box means that we limit the miracle-working power of God because we refuse to believe He is able to deliver.  “Again and again, they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.”

                When the psalmist says that the Israelites “limited the Holy One of Israel,” he means that God refused to do greater works in their midst because of their lack of faith.  Did you know that the church of the 21st century still has the same problem?  We look at the reasons God can’t or won’t do something, instead of believing He can.  As a result, we rob ourselves of some tremendous blessings.  How about you?  Are you putting God in a box, or are you putting Him on display by taking Him at His Word?