He Knows Us
God wants people He can depend upon, and He trusts us to be able to bear the trials He gives us.
Charles E. Cowman emphasizes God's desire for dependable and faithful individuals, using Abraham as an example of someone God could trust to command his children. He highlights the importance of being stable, reliable, and decided in our faith, as God looks for people on whom He can bestow His love, power, and promises. Cowman encourages believers to trust in God's strength to bear any trial, as God knows our limits and will never give us more than we can handle.
Text
"I know him, that he will command his children" (Gen. 18:19).
God wants people that He can depend upon. He could say of Abraham, "I know him, that he will command his children . . . that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken." God can be depended upon; He wants us to be just as decided, as reliable, as stable. This is just what faith means.
God is looking for men on whom He can put the weight of all His love and power and faithful promises. God's engines are strong enough to draw any weight we attach to them. Unfortunately the cable which we fasten to the engine is often too weak to hold the weight of our prayer; therefore God is drilling us, disciplining us to stability and certainty in the life of faith. Let us learn our lessons and stand fast. --A. B. Simpson
God knows that you can stand that trial; He would not give it to you if you could not. It is His trust in you that explains the trials of life, however bitter they may be. God knows our strength, and He measures it to the last inch; and a trial was never given to any man that was greater than that man's strength, through God, to bear it.
Sermon Outline
- God's Dependence on Us
- God's Engines and Our Cables
- Trials and God's Trust in Us
- God knows our strength and measures it to the last inch
- Trials are given to us because we can bear them
Key Quotes
“God knows that you can stand that trial; He would not give it to you if you could not.” — Charles E. Cowman
“God's engines are strong enough to draw any weight we attach to them.” — Charles E. Cowman
“God knows our strength, and He measures it to the last inch;” — Charles E. Cowman
Application Points
- We should strive to be stable and certain in our faith, so that we can be dependable to God.
- God's trials are given to us because He trusts us to be able to bear them, and it helps us to grow in our faith.
- We should learn to be strong in our faith, so that we can attach weight to God's engines and be more effective in our prayer.