NO RESTRAINT - Louis Gervais
NO RESTRAINT
Hello and greetings in the Name of the Son of Him to Whom is no Restraint to Save by Many or by Few, Jesus Christ!
“And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.” –1 Samuel 14:6 KJV
Our God’s ability to provide deliverance is not dependent upon our numeric condition. This is amply exemplified in the Bible: God used Moses and Aaron to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, the LORD used Samson to slay 1,000 Philistines with a jawbone (Judges 15:15) and He used Jonathan and his armor bearer to defeat about 20 men (1 Samuel 14:14) which started the route of the invading Philistines. The remarkable thing is the faith which Jonathan displayed in His God. Two against twenty? No problem for God. But Jonathan was careful to make sure that it was truly God’s will—he did not follow his own ideas headlong (while assuming God’s divine blessing and protection all the way) only to end up dead, like King Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:20-27). So, it’s encouraging to know, that even if we are but a few firm believers who seek the Lord with our whole hearts, He is mighty to save—by many or by few; He is not restrained! Hallelujah!
Another thought which is closely related to this is displayed beautifully in Otto Koning’s sermon ‘God Enjoys the Impossible’ (which is very good; you may listen to it online). Mr. Koning makes the point that God even decreases the number of people on His side of a battle beforehand in order to increase His honor and glory (such as how the LORD sent many of the Israelites home in Judges chapter 7 before the select 300 went with Gideon to fight the Midianites and their allies). And thus God got the credit because humanly it was impossible. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Praise the Lord!
Another such example is when the 400+ men defeated the 10,000 – 20,000 Zulu warriors at the Battle of Blood River on December 16th 1838, leaving about 3,000 Zulu dead while only three of the Boers were wounded. It’s not humanly explicable, not in truth. Louis Gervais