In these scriptural situations, Abraham, Daniel, Paul and Jesus faced the impossible. Spend some time stepping into each of their lives. Do you feel their anguish? Can you relate to infertility or abuse? Have you faced death in your job or through the suffering of another? Have you been persecuted?
What did they do when faced with the impossible?
Abraham and Sarah
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation,and I will bless you; . . . So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. (Genesis 12:1-2,4)
Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.( Genesis 15:4-6)
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
(Genesis 16:1-2, 15-16)
Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac; I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. (Genesis 17:17-19)
Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said. Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” (Genesis 18:9-12)
Daniel and the Lion’s Den
At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”
Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”
The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. (Daniel 6:19-23)
Paul and Silas in Prison
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. (Acts 16:22-26)
Jesus in Gethsemane
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:32-36)
Reflection
Sit with your impossible – As you contemplate your impossible situation hear these words from the song Miracle by Unspoken (video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yrV9kRr888)
Have you stopped reaching
No longer seeking greater things
Have you forgotten
You have a Father listening
He tells the sun when to rise
Gives the wind it’s breath
Swings a door wide open and
Moves in the moment you least expect
(Chorus) Don’t you give up on a miracle
You’ve got to speak to the impossible
You gotta
Pray till your breakthrough breaks through the ceiling
Keep on believing
Don’t you give up
Don’t you give up
On a miracle
How many chances
How many answers
Pass us by
You know it takes faith
To step on the waves
When you’re terrified
When you’re backed in a corner
And you can’t wait any longer
(Chorus)
Feels like the prayers and the words you have spoken
They go unnoticed
Like drops in the ocean
Just beyond the veil of your vision
You’re mountains are moving, moving on
Remember the works his hands have done
Where you once were and how far you’ve come
(Chorus)
(Publishing: © 2016 Centricity Music Publishing (ASCAP)/Jon Lowry designee/Wordspring Music, LLC & Fleauxmotion Music (SESAC) Writers: Chad Mattson, Jon Lowry and Tedd T)
So in this day, speak to your impossible. In your darkness and your solitude, speak to the impossible. Remember . . .
Abraham did it by his faith in God’s Word to him – stepping out and persevering and it was credited to him as righteousness. God took care of the impossible!
Daniel did it by standing firm in the midst of terror and fear – stepping into certain death and faithfully facing those fears. God took care of the impossible!
Paul did it by faithfully worshiping and praising God in the midst of abuse, pain, and imprisonment. God took care of the impossible!
Jesus did it by going off by Himself and sharing His heartache and anguish with His Abba, recognizing that He wanted what God wanted regardless of the human sacrifice that God required. God took care of the impossible!
R.H. Loy
