March 2nd, 2022
Our God is the God of the impossible! More than likely, we’ve all heard or said this at some point. If you’re a Christian, you’ve accepted the truth that God is the Creator; that He’s all-powerful; and that He sent Jesus to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. We know in our heads that God does the impossible, but today, I want to ask: Do you really believe it?
The Bible is full of stories of God doing incredible things in seemingly hopeless situations, and right now I want to talk about just one of them. Exodus records the story of God sending Moses to deliver His people from slavery in Egypt. After no less than ten terrible plagues demonstrating God’s power, Pharoah relented and let them go. God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness where they came to the Red Sea. In Exodus 14:4, before the people actually arrived at the shore of the sea, God said to Moses:
“For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.”
God already knew what He was going to do and told the people He would deliver them. However, when they came to the sea, which was too deep to cross, and realized the Egyptians were pursuing them, they panicked. Exodus 14:10-12 tells us,
“When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Then, Moses cried out to God, and He responded,
“Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.”
Most of us know the rest of the story! It happened exactly as God said it would. He not only delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, but He destroyed their enemy so they could not pursue them again! It’s very interesting that in verse 4, above, we see that God already knew how He was going to deliver them from the Egyptians. He said the Egyptians would pursue and He would get the glory, but He didn’t tell His people the details. He told them what He was going to do, but not how He would do it. I believe that’s because God was testing their hearts to see where their trust was. After seeing His power demonstrated mightily in Egypt and being led into the wilderness by a pillar of fire and a cloud, would they trust Him in the next impossible situation? In the case of the Israelites, the answer was no. Psalm 106: 8-12 says,
“Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
did not consider your wondrous works;
they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,
but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
Yet he saved them for his name's sake,
that he might make known his mighty power.
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry,
and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
So he saved them from the hand of the foe
and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.
And the waters covered their adversaries;
not one of them was left.
Then they believed his words;
they sang his praise.”
They rebelled against God, not remembering His steadfast love, but in His mercy, He saved them anyway. They praised Him after a victory, but that wasn’t faith! Worshipping when you’ve seen God do what He said He would is great, but it isn’t the same as worshipping in faith when you’re still on the other side of the Red Sea. Jesus said in John 20:29,
““Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Faith is believing that God will do exactly what He said He would do, even if you don’t know how He’s going to do it. God loves to do things differently than we would do them. We see this all throughout the Bible! He used David, a shepherd boy, to defeat the Philistine champion. (1 Samuel 17). In Gideon’s day, God sent home almost 33,000 soldiers, using only 300 of them to defeat the vast MIdeonite army saying, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ (Judges 7:2). A little over 2,000 years ago, the Jewish people were awaiting a Messiah, believing their Savior would come to deliver them from Roman occupation and immediately begin to rule as King from Jerusalem. However, God’s plan wasn’t just to deliver them from their Roman enemy, but the very enemy of their souls. His plan wasn’t just to save them in that moment, but to provide a way for salvation for every human being that would come after them. Jesus died on a cross and rose again, glorified, to deliver them from death itself! Sadly, many of them couldn’t receive it because God didn’t do it the way they expected.
How do we respond when God does something differently than we expect in our lives? When we face the impossible, do we remember the promises of God and the things He has done for us in the past? Do we praise Him for His faithfulness even when we haven’t yet seen victory in a particular situation? We have every promise of His word for our healing, provision, and deliverance. He has even promised us the desires of our hearts if we delight in Him. Often though, we know what God said He will do, but we doubt Him when we can’t understand how He’ll do it. The thing is, if God always told us how He would do things, it would require no faith on our part. God didn’t tell the people how He would deliver them at the sea, just that He would. They didn’t believe His word and began to cry out for slavery! That may seem ridiculous to us, but this is what we do every time we doubt God and try to do things our own way! Many times, in our own lives, the answer we need is not something we could conceive or ask for. God sees further than we do, and His plans are better than ours. God is the God of the impossible. When we’re standing at our own Red Sea, and cannot see a way out of the situation we’re in, God is the God of the impossible. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a miracle that seems “small” or it’s a nation facing impossible odds, God is the God of the Impossible. Even when we don’t understand, we can rest in His promises and stand in faith upon His Word. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same God who delivered Israel from Egypt; David from Goliath; and Gideon from the Mideonites, still delivers His people today!
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Eph. 3:20)
The Bible is full of stories of God doing incredible things in seemingly hopeless situations, and right now I want to talk about just one of them. Exodus records the story of God sending Moses to deliver His people from slavery in Egypt. After no less than ten terrible plagues demonstrating God’s power, Pharoah relented and let them go. God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness where they came to the Red Sea. In Exodus 14:4, before the people actually arrived at the shore of the sea, God said to Moses:
“For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.”
God already knew what He was going to do and told the people He would deliver them. However, when they came to the sea, which was too deep to cross, and realized the Egyptians were pursuing them, they panicked. Exodus 14:10-12 tells us,
“When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Then, Moses cried out to God, and He responded,
“Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.”
Most of us know the rest of the story! It happened exactly as God said it would. He not only delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, but He destroyed their enemy so they could not pursue them again! It’s very interesting that in verse 4, above, we see that God already knew how He was going to deliver them from the Egyptians. He said the Egyptians would pursue and He would get the glory, but He didn’t tell His people the details. He told them what He was going to do, but not how He would do it. I believe that’s because God was testing their hearts to see where their trust was. After seeing His power demonstrated mightily in Egypt and being led into the wilderness by a pillar of fire and a cloud, would they trust Him in the next impossible situation? In the case of the Israelites, the answer was no. Psalm 106: 8-12 says,
“Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
did not consider your wondrous works;
they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,
but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
Yet he saved them for his name's sake,
that he might make known his mighty power.
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry,
and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
So he saved them from the hand of the foe
and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.
And the waters covered their adversaries;
not one of them was left.
Then they believed his words;
they sang his praise.”
They rebelled against God, not remembering His steadfast love, but in His mercy, He saved them anyway. They praised Him after a victory, but that wasn’t faith! Worshipping when you’ve seen God do what He said He would is great, but it isn’t the same as worshipping in faith when you’re still on the other side of the Red Sea. Jesus said in John 20:29,
““Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Faith is believing that God will do exactly what He said He would do, even if you don’t know how He’s going to do it. God loves to do things differently than we would do them. We see this all throughout the Bible! He used David, a shepherd boy, to defeat the Philistine champion. (1 Samuel 17). In Gideon’s day, God sent home almost 33,000 soldiers, using only 300 of them to defeat the vast MIdeonite army saying, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ (Judges 7:2). A little over 2,000 years ago, the Jewish people were awaiting a Messiah, believing their Savior would come to deliver them from Roman occupation and immediately begin to rule as King from Jerusalem. However, God’s plan wasn’t just to deliver them from their Roman enemy, but the very enemy of their souls. His plan wasn’t just to save them in that moment, but to provide a way for salvation for every human being that would come after them. Jesus died on a cross and rose again, glorified, to deliver them from death itself! Sadly, many of them couldn’t receive it because God didn’t do it the way they expected.
How do we respond when God does something differently than we expect in our lives? When we face the impossible, do we remember the promises of God and the things He has done for us in the past? Do we praise Him for His faithfulness even when we haven’t yet seen victory in a particular situation? We have every promise of His word for our healing, provision, and deliverance. He has even promised us the desires of our hearts if we delight in Him. Often though, we know what God said He will do, but we doubt Him when we can’t understand how He’ll do it. The thing is, if God always told us how He would do things, it would require no faith on our part. God didn’t tell the people how He would deliver them at the sea, just that He would. They didn’t believe His word and began to cry out for slavery! That may seem ridiculous to us, but this is what we do every time we doubt God and try to do things our own way! Many times, in our own lives, the answer we need is not something we could conceive or ask for. God sees further than we do, and His plans are better than ours. God is the God of the impossible. When we’re standing at our own Red Sea, and cannot see a way out of the situation we’re in, God is the God of the impossible. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a miracle that seems “small” or it’s a nation facing impossible odds, God is the God of the Impossible. Even when we don’t understand, we can rest in His promises and stand in faith upon His Word. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same God who delivered Israel from Egypt; David from Goliath; and Gideon from the Mideonites, still delivers His people today!
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Eph. 3:20)
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