Capacity

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. 

(Isaiah 54:2, NKJV)

If one places a container under a bust water pipe, the amount of water that the container collects is determined by the container size, the bigger the container the more the water and conversely the smaller the container the less it collects.  This applies to all other areas of life and so we hear words like, the more prepared one is for an activity for example a game, the better they perform.  All this is to say, that in most cases, we have a part to play in determining how much we end up with, it is not always a matter of the other person doing his bit but it is also upon us playing our part.

Beloved, our reference verse comes from a chapter that speaks of hope, a call for those who believe and to whom the Father considers His own. It is instructive that right at the beginning of the chapter, we are told to play our part by enlarging our spaces, in line with our expectation from God.  Our reference should not be on what we have right now or how things look like around us, but we are to take steps according to our expectations.  This might be challenging to us especially if we are thinking small given our abilities, but it is an invitation to consider the greatness of what God wants to place in our lives.  God respects your capacities and will only pour into your lap what you have expected from Him.  The more we present to Him, the more He fills us as He has more than we could ever receive or imagine.  God works with what we have.  When Elisha met the woman who was in debt, he asked her what she had in her house and she said she had a jar of oil.  He told her to go and borrow many other jars from her neighbours.  We are told that for as long as there was an empty jar, the oil kept flowing.  It was the filling of all the jars that she presented which stopped the oil flow, her presented capacity determined how much she ended up getting (2 Kings 4:1-7).

The bible invites us to set our faith on what we expect to receive.  Two blind men followed Jesus for healing and Jesus asked them whether they believed that He could heal them.  They both responded in the affirmative and Jesus in return said, that it would be done according to their faith (Matthew 9:27-29). Here we see Jesus healing on the basis of the faith presented to Him.  Is it then possible that we have missed out on what God would have wanted to give to us because we were not prepared for it?  Could we simply be scratching the surface of what God has in store for us but we lack the faith and the heart to experience the fullness of His goodness in our lives?  As I reflected on this sobering thought, I was reminded of Paul praying that we would know the breadth, length, depth and height of God’s love for us and be filled with all His fullness (Ephesians 3:18-19).  I perceive that Paul knew something that we need to seek out, the fullness of God.  A revelation of this will help us trust for more, ask for more, and make room for more.  God desires to give us His all, He requires us to go deeper with Him for the more we seek from Him, the more we receive.

Thoughts:

What capacity have you presented to God?

What could be limiting your ability to expect for more?

How could you expand your capacity for more of, and from God?