This morning I felt that the Lord was wanting us to thank Him for our ‘impossibilities’. I had been listening to a song which listed some of the miracles in the bible, and some of the amazing things that the Lord has done for His people. I got to thinking that, inspite of the fact that we sing and talk about miracles, how many of those miracles do we see in our 21st century technologically advanced society?
The fact is, I think, we need to have an impossibility before we can see a pure miracle. So the children of Israel saw the Red sea part, and they walked through on dry land. Exodus 14:13-31. The servants filled the jars with water because there was no more wine, and as they served it out, saw that Jesus had turned it into wine. John 2:7-10. The woman with the issue of blood, had tried everything to get better for twelve years to no avail, and then she touches Jesus robe and she was instantly healed. Mark 5:24-34.
So many of the miracles and healings that we read of in the Old and New Testaments, come when there is nowhere else to go, but to the Lord. In our world we can go to doctors, search the internet, and find support in all kinds of ways, practical and financial, and nearly all of these things are good, and God can and will work through them. We see God’s hand at work getting us appointments, finding us cars, houses and schools for our children. In so many things in life we see His interventions and we can be so thankful. I am thinking today however that the Lord wants us to get to know Him as the ‘God of the impossible.’
One area where God has shown Himself to be the God of the impossible is ‘barreness’. We read about Sarah, Rebecca, Hannah, Elizabeth and of course Mary. They were all childless for different reasons, but all received a miracle child when there wasn’t the slightest possibility of them giving birth at all. Sometimes the miracle was desperately sought, as when Samuel was born. 1 Samuel 1:9-18. Other times it was a total surprise, as we see with Mary, Luke 1:26-38, and at other times it was a very delayed response (see yesterday’s blog) to prayers that had been prayed long before, as with Sarah Genesis 15:1-6 and Elizabeth, Luke 1:25.
In each of these miracles, God had purposed that it should be clear that it was His hand and His alone that had created the miracle birth. In each instance it got the attention of the people involved, and they knew that they had been drawn into the purposes of God big time. These miracles also allowed God to open their eyes to who He was and what he could do. In answer to Mary’s question ‘How will this be?’ the angel gives that now famous response, ‘With God, nothing shall be impossible’. Luke 1:37, AV.
The reaction I love the most is Sarah’s. We are told that, on overhearing the news that she was to have a baby when she was well into her nineties, ‘Sarah laughed to herself’. The Lord challenges her about this laughter, saying, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, “Will I really have a child, now that I am old”, He then continues “ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you ……. and Sarah will have a son’. She denies laughing, and she gets the short response from the Lord ‘Yes you did laugh’. Genesis 18:1-12. How lovely then that when the baby is born, he is named ‘Laughter’ – Isaac.
Hannah on the other hand accepted that her miracle was going to come, and we are told that she ‘went her way and ate something and her face was no longer downcast.’ 1 Samuel 1:18. While Zacharias, who just asked the reasonable question “How can I be sure of this?” had nine months without being able to speak as his sign that God was in control here. However we might have reacted in those circumstances I believe that, today, God would like us to bring our ‘impossibilities ‘ to Him and thank Him for them, because they are going to be our opportunity to see a miracle happen.
Jesus is preparing His bride and He wants us to be ‘believing believers’. He is preparing us in the west to see those ‘greater things.’ He is wanting to raise our faith levels, and I think He would say to us as He said to those early disciples who found it hard to set a child free from the seizures he was having, ‘I tell you the truth if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “move from here to there”, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you’. I believe we are on a journey of faith,and the first step is going to be as we see our own ‘impossibility’ met with a miracle, and that is why we can be thankful for it.
