Impossible

For nothing will be impossible with God. (Luke 1:37)

It can’t be done.  How often have we heard these four words in our lives in relation to a lot of our experiences?  It can’t be done settles the matter about something we perhaps hoped for.  Whatever our hope or dream was, it was not going to happen.  It would be impossible.

It seemed impossible for Mary that she could conceive a child at this point in her life.  Yet, the angel revealed that God’s Holy Spirit would be involved.  And when God gets involved in any situation, nothing is impossible.  

Impossible.  This word inserts itself in our stories at different points along life’s journey.  We face a situation that simply cannot be overcome. We realize that we have run out of options and that there is no hope for any change in the outcome.

Pastor and theologian John Piper states, “Darkness comes. In the middle of it, the future looks blank. The temptation to quit is huge. Don’t. You are in good company… You will argue with yourself that there is no way forward. But with God, nothing is impossible. He has more ropes and ladders and tunnels out of pits than you can conceive. Wait. Pray without ceasing. Hope.”

God would bring about the impossible in Mary’s life.  Mary would become the mother to Jesus.  In our lives, God can birth forth new possibilities when we feel as though we have no hope.  When our horizons are limited, we must remember that God’s viewpoint is much different.  Discernment is about trusting in God’s viewpoint.  God sees what we cannot see.  Faith is trusting in God’s vision.  In Hebrews 11:1, we read, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Sometimes we look at the evidence and say no way.  Faith, however, reminds us that with God, all things are possible.

Prayer: Help me to trust in your vision for my life and to hope even when everything around me says “impossible.”