There are some things you can work your way through. There are some things you can talk your way out of. And then there are some things that no matter what you do, it simply will never be good enough. You do not have the power to change this. You do not have the strategy to fix this.

And maybe you’re facing one of those situations right now. There’s nothing you can do to change the trajectory of where this is going. It’s going and you can’t stop it.

That can truly leave a person feeling hopeless. Like you’re in the middle of a whirlpool and regardless of what you do, you’re getting sucked in and going down with this. For the hopeless soul listening right now who has watched every hope they were holding on to go down the drain, may I remind you that Romans 15:13 says, “May the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace as you TRUST in him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The God we love, the God we serve, the God we are here to hear from today, is the God of HOPE. He holds hope. He reigns over all hope. Our God is a hope dealer! Overflowing hope fills us when we trust in him.

My friend, this situation may feel hopeless, but the God of HOPE is here to fill you with hope again. Hope that while you can’t change this, GOD CAN. And let me tell you HOW God can change it: With his hand!

As God is giving Moses instructions on leading his people out of slavery in Egypt and into their promised land, God knows it’s truly a hopeless situation. Hopeless without God’s hand. There’s no way the Egyptians are going to allow their 2-3 million slaves of free labor to walk right out of captivity. There’s no way the Egyptian Pharaoh is going to just hand over the Israelites that have slaved away for 400 years. There’s absolutely nothing Moses could say to convince Pharaoh to let them go. There’s no war they could wage against their captors that would set them free. It was impossible. Impossible without God’s hand. But with God’s hand, it was already done!

God says to Moses in Exodus 3: 19-22, “I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand forces him. So I WILL RAISE MY HAND and strike the Egyptians, performing all kinds of miracles among them. Then at last he will let you go. And I WILL CAUSE the Egyptians to look favorably on you. They will give you gifts when you go so you will not leave empty-handed. Every Israelite woman will ask for articles of silver and gold and fine clothing from her Egyptian neighbors and from the foreign women in their houses. You will dress your sons and daughters with these, stripping the Egyptians of their wealth.”

God’s hand would do the impossible here. God’s hand would turn this situation around. Again, a situation that had been absolutely as bad as it could possibly be for 400 years. At this time, the Israelites had never known anything but slavery. Their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers were slaves here. It’s who they were and what they did. It was their lot in life. Nothing had ever been different for them, so why would they even dream of something different now?

I bet there’s something that’s been passed down to you that’s always been. You don’t even know to dream of something different because it’s never even crossed your mind that there might be more for someone like you. BUT THERE IS. There is more. It doesn’t matter if the thing you’re facing is the thing that the past 10 generations in your family has faced, it can change here. It doesn’t matter if you’ve always been the one to screw it up, that can change here.

How will it change? The hand of God! The hand of God will cause impossible things to become possible. The hand of God will change minds, cancel agreements with evil, and set prisoners free. The hand of God will break chains, terminate assignments of Hell, and cause the demons to flee. The hand of God will open doors, part seas, and make a way through the wilderness. Only the hand of God.

Only the hand of God over this will change it, and the hand of God is all you need to change it.

How do you get the hand of God on you? Is there a criteria for being good enough? Is there a list of things you have to do, give up and change before God’s hand is over your life?

That’s certainly what I used to think. I was so caught up in a performance mindset, always trying to earn God’s approval and applause, just hoping everyone else would like me too. God totally wasn’t impressed with me either. I struggled to live in grace because I was performing to earn what is only given to the undeserving, and I had to be humbled to understand I was undeserving no matter what I did.

Ezra 7:9-10 says Ezra “had the gracious hand of God on him.” (Then it tells us WHY.). “This was because Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the word of God and do it.”

Girls, this is HUGE!!!!!! As you’re here listening today, seeking God’s word so you can apply it to your life, you are inviting the gracious hand of God to be on you! That gracious hand holds all power and can make the impossible possible. That gracious, powerful, mighty hand can change what you could never change!

This is the hand that was over Moses and the Israelites when facing the Egyptians. It would never make sense for the Egyptians to just let their slaves leave after 400 years, but God’s hand was already in motion with the precise series of events and miracles that would not only set them free, but bless them on their way out!

9 chapters later, the impossible happens exactly as God had told Moses. Exodus 12:31, “Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night, ‘Get out!’ he ordered. ‘Leave my people – and take the rest of the Israelites with you! go and worship the Lord as you have requested.'” Verse 36, “The Lord caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the Israelites, and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for. So they stripped the Egyptians of their wealth!”

What in the world?!!! How totally awesome is that?!!!! What happened in the 9 chapters in between to bring them to this moment of walking right out of the place where they had been held captive for 400 years? What happened in those 9 chapters was everything that had to happen BY THE HAND OF GOD. This was a job only the hand of God could do, and he did it!

You may be facing a job that’s only for the hand of God – okay, great, then get his hand! How do you do that? Go back to Ezra 7: 9-10 again. “Ezra had the gracious hand of God on him. This was BECAUSE Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the word of God and do it.”

Get yourself in God’s word. I mean dive in. Read. Study. Surrender. Abide. Obey. Go. Follow. Repeat.

Read. Study. Surrender. Abide. Obey. Go. Follow. Repeat.

God already knows what his hand can do in your life. His hand can change the trajectory of where this is going. His hand can stop this. His hand can fix this. And when you know his gracious, powerful, mighty hand is on you as your heart seeks his word and does it, then something incredible and unspeakable happens. Something that won’t even make sense … You will be filled with hope. You will have joy right in the middle of the chaos. You will have peace with the problem still present. You will overflow with hope as God’s hand moves in the unseen, and before you even seen it, you will know HE IS DOING IT.

May your heart seek the word of God and do it. Then, may the gracious hand of God be on you and change every single thing that needs to be changed for you, for your family, for your future, and for his kingdom.

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