The Pinnacle of Impossibility? Not With God!
Still walking in the peace and rest of yesterday's Resurrection celebration! How can you NOT love Easter?! Seeing granddaughters in ruffles and tiny slippers does nothing if not melt my heart! Cool breeze and sunshine. Happy birds singing springtime songs and filling themselves on birdseed at our feeder. Green EVERYTHING sprouting in the yard and baby leaves spreading themselves on the branches. The electricity of LIFE surges in nature and in my heart.
The Easter story -- the Easter TRUTH -- brings more than life, though. It brings hope. In His miraculous, mysterious way, God conquered what mankind fears most and has no answer for -- death. The men and women who witnessed the walking, talking, breathing Jesus after His resurrection died torturous, horrendous deaths for refusing to deny what they saw and knew -- that God had scaled the pinnacle of impossibility and crumbled it with one strong, crushing blow.
The Bible is full of God's miracles. He created the universe by His word, man and woman with a breath. He parted the Red Sea to save His people as they escaped centuries of slavery. He rained down just enough manna to feed them each day in their waiting for the Promised Land. He stayed the rotation of the earth to allow Israel enough time to defeat its enemies. His Son took a couple of fish and some loaves of bread and filled the bellies of thousands who were not only physically hungry but spiritually hungry, too.
I'm walking through a season in my life right now where a couple or few miracles would be nice. There are a handful of situations where seeing God doing something mighty and amazing would knock my socks off! But my troubles are small when I line them up next to those of some of the people I love. So I list those burdens on paper, and I carry my weary friends to the foot of the throne of the God of miracles. And I beg. And I plead. And I wait. Sometimes it gets ugly. I get a little impatient, and in my arrogance, I get a little bossy with God (which, by the way, is a very bad idea). Because I know that God is able. And I get frustrated that things aren't going like I want them to.
But getting God confused with Santa Claus is a dangerous place to go. Santa gives you what you want. Santa shows up once a year. Santa gives you shiny, new stuff and goes on his merry way. Your stuff breaks? Your stuff doesn't satisfy like you thought it would? Oh, well. But the Lord...oh, the Lord! He gives you what you NEED. He knows what will happen if you get what you want. And in His mercy, He saves you from that. He knows what will satisfy your soul, and it's NOT what you asked for. He loves you as the perfect Father, and what He DOES give you is the perfect gift. He doesn't want you once a year -- He wants you for all eternity! And if giving you what you want interferes with that forever love, He will NOT facilitate that. You want what you want, and you want it yesterday. But that good God of yours knows that timing -- His perfect timing -- will go best for you. He may give you all that you need to endure what you DON'T want to ultimately give you ALL that you need -- all of Him. And that truly is the best gift.
"' For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.'" -- Isaiah 55:8-9
There is a long, long laundry list of what needs to change in this world, in our lives, in our families. And lots of those situations have "IMPOSSIBLE" written all over them. But yesterday, the Christian world remembered that God Himself -- the God beyond our understanding, beyond our abilities -- single-handedly took down death once and for all. The most impossible thing became possible -- life eternal in the presence of our good Father. I know of some hard situations, and I don't see how good can come from them. But I don't have to. God sees. God knows. God is able.
It looks impossible. But so did defeating death. And God got the job done. Hang tight, friends. Hold on to the promises.
" Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" -- Matthew 19:26
"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for Me?" -- Jeremiah 32:27
The Easter story -- the Easter TRUTH -- brings more than life, though. It brings hope. In His miraculous, mysterious way, God conquered what mankind fears most and has no answer for -- death. The men and women who witnessed the walking, talking, breathing Jesus after His resurrection died torturous, horrendous deaths for refusing to deny what they saw and knew -- that God had scaled the pinnacle of impossibility and crumbled it with one strong, crushing blow.
The Bible is full of God's miracles. He created the universe by His word, man and woman with a breath. He parted the Red Sea to save His people as they escaped centuries of slavery. He rained down just enough manna to feed them each day in their waiting for the Promised Land. He stayed the rotation of the earth to allow Israel enough time to defeat its enemies. His Son took a couple of fish and some loaves of bread and filled the bellies of thousands who were not only physically hungry but spiritually hungry, too.
I'm walking through a season in my life right now where a couple or few miracles would be nice. There are a handful of situations where seeing God doing something mighty and amazing would knock my socks off! But my troubles are small when I line them up next to those of some of the people I love. So I list those burdens on paper, and I carry my weary friends to the foot of the throne of the God of miracles. And I beg. And I plead. And I wait. Sometimes it gets ugly. I get a little impatient, and in my arrogance, I get a little bossy with God (which, by the way, is a very bad idea). Because I know that God is able. And I get frustrated that things aren't going like I want them to.
But getting God confused with Santa Claus is a dangerous place to go. Santa gives you what you want. Santa shows up once a year. Santa gives you shiny, new stuff and goes on his merry way. Your stuff breaks? Your stuff doesn't satisfy like you thought it would? Oh, well. But the Lord...oh, the Lord! He gives you what you NEED. He knows what will happen if you get what you want. And in His mercy, He saves you from that. He knows what will satisfy your soul, and it's NOT what you asked for. He loves you as the perfect Father, and what He DOES give you is the perfect gift. He doesn't want you once a year -- He wants you for all eternity! And if giving you what you want interferes with that forever love, He will NOT facilitate that. You want what you want, and you want it yesterday. But that good God of yours knows that timing -- His perfect timing -- will go best for you. He may give you all that you need to endure what you DON'T want to ultimately give you ALL that you need -- all of Him. And that truly is the best gift.
"' For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.'" -- Isaiah 55:8-9
There is a long, long laundry list of what needs to change in this world, in our lives, in our families. And lots of those situations have "IMPOSSIBLE" written all over them. But yesterday, the Christian world remembered that God Himself -- the God beyond our understanding, beyond our abilities -- single-handedly took down death once and for all. The most impossible thing became possible -- life eternal in the presence of our good Father. I know of some hard situations, and I don't see how good can come from them. But I don't have to. God sees. God knows. God is able.
It looks impossible. But so did defeating death. And God got the job done. Hang tight, friends. Hold on to the promises.
" Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" -- Matthew 19:26
"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for Me?" -- Jeremiah 32:27