Leave Room For God

Preacher:
Date: November 30, 2020

In Robert Morgan’s small but very practical book called The Red Sea Rules he tells about a time when he was exceptionally worried about a situation that faced him. While reading his Bible, he came upon the words “Leave room for God’s wrath” (Romans 12:19). The context is that we shouldn’t try to get even when someone harms us, but instead leave room for Him to settle the score.

But if we can leave room for God’s anger, he reasoned, “can we not, when facing other challenges, leave room for His other attributes? For His power? For His grace? For His intervention?” Morgan relates, “I underlined the words leave room for God and have leaned on them ever since.”[1]

The most remembered scene from the epic movie “The Ten Commandments” occurs when the Israelites are facing the Red Sea, trapped by mountains on both sides, with the Egyptian army in hot pursuit fully planning on capturing them and bringing them back as slaves. But God intervenes. He parts the Red Sea enabling the Israelites to cross through on dry land to safety.

Like the Israelites you may be trapped by your circumstances. The Red Sea of Sure Disaster is in front of you. The Mountains of Impossibility trap you on both sides, and Certain Calamity is pursuing closer and closer. Friend, leave room for God. He still knows how to part the Red Sea. God still specializes in doing the impossible.

When you leave room for God, you rest more fully in Him to solve the problem instead of struggling to answer your own prayer. God’s timing is precise. Today may be the very day God rescues you from your situation. Moses told the Israelites, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:13-14).

Just wait a little longer.

[1] Robert J. Morgan, The Red Sea Rules (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2001), 50