For There Is Nothing That God Cannot Do

Luke chapter 1, verse 37: For there is nothing that God cannot do.  When we think that we face the impossible, we need to remember that, with God, there is no such thing.  It is sometimes difficult to hold on to faith.  It may seem that overwhelming odds are pushing us in the opposite direction.  We share the struggle of the father of the boy with an evil spirit whose dilemma is recorded in Mark 9:24 – I do have faith, but not enough.  Help me to have more!  We go so far in our faith, but only so far.  These words contain the reminder that God takes the limits off.  This little sentence provides us with the confidence we need when it seems that this is not so.  These are words of support, comfort, courage.  We can see these words as an encouragement to leave things with God.  There are many examples in the Bible of the need to take this point seriously.  When Sarah was told that she would have a son, she just laughed.  This was something unbelievable.  She didn’t take it seriously.  But, with God, the unbelievable can be what happens.  David had the courage to face the giant Goliath.  Sheer stupidity, on any kind of normal assessment – but, with God, he eliminated the threat that Goliath posed to the people.  When faced with the challenge of battle with the Midianites, Gideon gathered, as you might expect, a massive army.  But God told him it was too many – and so the numbers were reduced before the task was undertaken.  For there is nothing that God cannot do.

What are the tasks that we are facing that seem impossible?  What are the impossible challenges on our agenda?  The question is not about whether they are possible, but whether they are what God is calling us to do.  Of course, it doesn’t happen all the time and everywhere, but quite remarkable things can and do happen – when God has got something unexpected lined up for us.  It is difficult to face up to those logic-defying challenges and perhaps all the more difficult because there are many good things that we would like to do and we can’t understand why God is not making them happen.  I am not going to try and explain that because I can’t.  But I do want to say, as Paul did to Timothy, 2 Timothy 1:12 – But I am still full of confidence, because I know whom I have trusted, and I am sure that he is able to keep safe until that Day what he has entrusted to me.