God of the Impossible

Matt and Carrie were in an impossible situation—or so it seemed. The lender on their home had scheduled a Trustee’s Sale that was now three days away. Foreclosure. Despair. Emptiness. They were semi-retired, but jobs were scarce in the ministry for an aging minister.

For two years they had been facing foreclosure. Their bank had offered two reasonable loan modifications, but both ended for lack of resources.

Matt said God would not allow a foreclosure to go through. Carrie wasn’t so sure.

Three days for the impossible to play out.

They prayed as they had done many times about what to do. The smartest thing to do was to sell the house and move. But where? God had not offered any guidance nor a job. And Carrie didn’t want to move.

Three days.

After much prayer Matt decided to call their lender once again. After all, he had been praying for two years that God would keep the lender from foreclosing.

And he knew from reading the Word and from many experiences that God was a God of miracles because he was God of the impossible.

In a familiar story from the age of the patriarchs, Sarah laughed when God told her she would have a baby—a woman in her 90s! Impossible!

When the God of miracles heard the laughter he asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? . . . Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:9-15).

No! Nothing is too hard for the Lord! This doesn’t mean God will do everything we ask of him. There is also the matter of his will, what is right for us as we serve Jesus Christ in a very difficult world.

But Sarah did have a baby as God of the impossible promised.

Matt asked the loan officer, “I see that there’s going to be a Trustee’s Sale in three days. Is there anything you can do to help us?”

Matt knew God could help them. But the bank was another matter, even though they had been very helpful and patient in the past.

The loan officer nearly knocked him off his chair when he said, “Sure. You can apply for another loan modification.”

“Really?” he said, astonished. “We’ve already failed two.”

“That’s okay,” he assured Matt. “You made some trial payments, but you failed due to lack of money. Since that was the issue, you can apply for another modification. And we will put a stop on the Trustee’s Sale. The whole thing will go away.”

Their great God of the impossible had come through again!

What seemed impossible for Matt and Carrie was not impossible for God. God knew the bank would offer them another loan modification when it never occurred to them that it was possible.

They jumped at the chance, and this time God provided the money. Sometime later God gave Matt a part-time teaching ministry.

Sometimes trust and faith in our God of the impossible is all we need to get out of a seemingly impossible situation. After all, God has been doing the impossible since life on earth began.

When the delivered Hebrew slaves were still in the wilderness, God ordered Moses to send spies into Canaan. They came back exuberant, carrying great clusters of grapes and raving about the land that really was what God had told them. “It flows with milk and honey, and this [the grapes] is its fruit” (Num. 13:27).

But the spies, except for Caleb and Joshua, were also terrified. “However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. . . . We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are” (Num. 13:28-33). Impossible!

But they did conquer the Canaanites because God of the impossible went before them and led them to victory over a land that was filled with idolatry and child sacrifice and many other sins.

More than 1000 years later God’s promised Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, appeared on the earth. The apostles and disciples set out to proclaim the message of salvation and eternal life in God’s crucified and resurrected Son. Little did they know what impossible situations would confront them, even though Jesus had warned them of persecution.

In Acts 12 the violence of persecution hits the Church hard when Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, has James, the brother of John, killed and throws Peter into prison, intending to kill him also.

But the Church in Jerusalem prayed for Peter, and although he was guarded by two soldiers and bound by chains, God of the impossible had other plans for Peter.

The night when Herod was about to bring Peter out to be tried, as he was sleeping “an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell.” Peter’s chains fell off by themselves! The angel told him to get dressed and follow him—right past two more guards and through the iron gate of the prison, which opened by itself! Impossibly—but not for God—the guards saw nothing! (Acts 12:1-10).

I know, you must be thinking, you are neither Sarah nor Peter, two great biblical people.

But then neither were Matt and Carrie!

When Jesus told his disciples that it was difficult for a rich man to get past his riches and sins so he could “enter the kingdom of God,” the disciples were astonished and asked Jesus, “Who then can be saved?” The rich, after all, were considered the elite of Israel and much respected and looked up to in Jesus’ day.

But Jesus gave them the answer: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”(Matt. 19:23-26).

A man came to Jesus having a son who was tormented by a demon spirit. The disciples could not cast it out and the man begged Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Jesus is astonished that a man who asked him for help seemed to have such little faith in him. He said, “If you can! All things are possible for the one who believes.” Jesus then cast out the evil spirit (Mark 9:17-27).

Some have called Jesus a possibility thinker—a positive believer if there ever was one. While that may be true, Jesus was much more than that.

Jesus was God’s own Son, and he knew his Father as the God of miracles, God of the impossible.

Just as Jesus encouraged the people he met to have faith and believe that “With God all things are possible,” I would encourage you to have faith and believe the words of Jesus.

Whatever impossible situation you may face today, God is in your life to help you because he truly is God of the impossible!

 

 

 

The End