What limitations do I have?

Job 14:1“How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble!”

Psalm 90:10Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.

Psalm 103:16The wind blows, and we are gone—as though we had never been here.

Ecclesiastes 8:8None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked.

Ecclesiastes 12:2-7Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky. . . . Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral. Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well.

Matthew 26:40Then he [Jesus] returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?”

1 Peter 1:24As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades.”

Our mortality limits us. Sleep and rest, food and nourishment, physical limitations or sickness are some of the “fences” that restrain us.

Romans 3:23Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Romans 7:18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.

Proverbs 3:7-8Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.

Ecclesiastes 7:15-18I have seen everything in this meaningless life, including the death of good young people and the long life of wicked people. So don’t be too good or too wise! Why destroy yourself? On the other hand, don’t be too wicked either. Don’t be a fool! Why die before your time? Pay attention to these instructions, for anyone who fears God will avoid both extremes.

Ecclesiastes 8:16-17In my search for wisdom and in my observation of people’s burdens here on earth, I discovered that there is ceaseless activity, day and night. I realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun. Not even the wisest people discover everything, no matter what they claim.

1 Corinthians 13:12Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Our knowledge and our perspectives are limited. Even the brightest person knows only a fraction of what can be known.

Ecclesiastes 8:7-8Indeed, how can people avoid what they don’t know is going to happen? None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked.

James 4:13-16Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.

We are limited by our inability to see into the future. We should recognize this and trust God, who already knows the future.

Zechariah 8:9, 16-17“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Be strong and finish the task! Ever since the laying of the foundation of the Temple of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, you have heard what the prophets have been saying about completing the building. . . . But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in your courts that are just and that lead to peace. Don’t scheme against each other. Stop your love of telling lies that you swear are the truth. I hate all these things, says the Lord.”

Our greatest limitations are often those we bring upon ourselves—not finishing what we start, not telling the truth, not seeking peace, not worshiping the true God alone. Sin moves us away from God and limits our ability to live under the full power and blessing of God.

Numbers 11:14“I can’t carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy!”

Even the greatest leaders—like Moses—have limitations. No one can do everything!