Mensa Otabil - More Than You Can Carry (10/14/2025)
Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 25. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry away. There were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. This is a very profound story about the children of Israel.
The Moabites had come against them, and the Israelites were outnumbered. King Jehoshaphat sought the Lord, and eventually, he went into battle with worshipers leading the battle, praising the Lord and singing His faithfulness. As they worshiped the Lord, the angel of the Lord went ahead of them, and the Moabites started fighting against each other. So instead of Israel fighting in the battle, they went in to take the booty of the battle. Sometimes, God has a way of giving us victory in unlikely places, and here we see that they didn’t go to fight; they went to find. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s something good to be excited about. Sometimes you go in, and you don’t go into fights; you go in to find. You just realize that the thing you are so worried about, God has already gone ahead of you to fight for you.
In this year, may the Lord go ahead to fight for you; that where there is a fight, you will find, and you will find the goodness of the Lord. You’ll find the abundance of the Lord. The passage says that when they went in to find what had been made available to them, it was more than they could carry. In other words, it was excessive, and that’s an important thing about gathering and receiving from the Lord and finding God’s favor. Because sometimes, God gives you something far more than your own personal capacity. That means that when God gives you more than you can carry, you need to network with other people; you need to bring in other people; you need to bring in other resources. You know, many times we get so greedy with the blessings of the Lord; we want to enjoy all of it by ourselves. But if it’s too much for you, then you must share it with somebody else. If it’s too much for you, then you can call on somebody else to come and be with you.
So this year, as you seek to gather God’s blessing, as you seek to expand and find the goodness of the Lord, also be aware that most of the things that will come your way will be more than your own capacity. You should network with other people, get them involved in your life and your business so that you can build stronger teams to access the opportunities that God has given to you. The third thing we note about this incident is that they gathered for three days; they didn’t just gather for one day and it was over. Sometimes, God blesses us so much, but it takes time to fully rein in everything that God is giving to you.
You know, sometimes we want things to be done instantly, and there are times when things happen instantly in our lives. In a very short time, things begin to happen; but most of the time, both in the Bible and in our lives, we realize it doesn’t take a short time to get things done. It takes days, it takes weeks, it takes months, it takes years. Some things you start this year, you may have to continue next year and the year thereafter. You don’t start this year and finish everything this year. You don’t start this week and finish everything this week. Things may take days and weeks and months and years and decades.
We have to be ready to go the full length of the distance to receive all that God has for us. You may be like King Jehoshaphat, faced with an army. If you will learn to trust the Lord, sing His praise, and go confidently into battle, you may find that instead of fighting, you go to find the booty, the spoil, the abundance that God has left for you. May this be the year where we gather in abundance to the glory of God. In Jesus' name.
Let us pray: Save me, Heavenly Father; You are the God of more than enough. By Your grace, I will gather more than I can carry in 2023. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Well, I’ll catch you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.