ARE YOU LIMITING GOD?

I was reading Psalm 78 when I read a verse that arrested my attention;
Psalm 78:41 (KJV)
41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
They limited God! What does that mean? So, I started checking concordances to see if the translators
goofed. But, no, they didn’t. the word “limited” is rightly supplied. So, what exactly does that mean?
This teaching has as much significance now as when Psalms was first written. What Psalm 78 is talking
about is Israel not believing God.
Psalm 78:5-7 (KJV)
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our
fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should
arise and declare them to their children:
7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
Israel was to know God and to teach their children so that their children and each subsequent
generation’s hope and believing was in God. Not the things of the world, not the bank, not the
government, but, God.
Psalm 78:8 (KJV)
8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their
heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
But, Israel didn’t do that. They forgot to teach their children about God and not only that, but, of the
wonderous acts of God. And, because of that, the Children of Israel turned away from God.
Psalm 78:9-11 (KJV)
9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.
When you forget the wonders of God then you can’t believe for His deliverance. God became a
myth to them and unfortunately to us and our children today. How many people have their hope
in God? How many people believe God for miracles? They haven’t been taught!
Psalm 78:9-16 (KJV)
9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.
12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an
heap.
14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
God did all of this, but, Ephraim forgot God’s ability to deliver so when it came time to fight
they turned back because, in their mind, the situation was bigger than God.
Even the generation that saw God defeat Egypt and provide water out of a rock forgot God’s
ability and spoke against God. The situation, in their mind, was bigger than God.
Psalm 78:18-19 (KJV)
18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
That is a rhetorical question. It requires no answer. They had already set in their mind that God couldn’t
do it.
Psalm 78:22 (KJV)
22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:
Psalm 78:32 (KJV)
32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.
Psalm 78:40-41 (KJV)
40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
They limited the God by their unbelief! God was able to deliver them. God was willing to deliver them,
but, God can only help a person, a city or a nation as far as they believe. This is the greatest law in the
universe! Without knowing of God’s great deliverance and believing for it in your life you will never see
God’s miracles, God’s wonderous works in your life because you have limited God.
God is real people. God can do mighty works and miracles in your life when you get a knowledge of
God’s ability and believe God will do the same for you as He did for them of old.