God of Impossibilities

Why is it that I so quickly forget what God has done for me? I know I far too often forget my glasses and it is excellent for my fitness to have to regularly climb two flights of stairs to my loft room. But this forgetting of God is more serious. There have been times in my life when God has been so tangibly present that I have told him that I will surely never forget who he is but when a grey day comes, it can be hard to remember life in colour.

I have seen God do extraordinary things in many lives. I’ve watched families come out of drug addiction. I’ve had words of knowledge about people that I could not possibly have known. I’ve seen God love my sons and me and bring us through the trauma of Trevor’s death. I’ve seen God save and heal.

Yet I forget.

I forget the cost of the Cross that declares the depths of God’s love. I forget the resurrection which declares his Lordship.

The Bible is clear that remembering is a core spiritual discipline. If you don’t keep the core of your body strong, you can’t run a marathon and you can’t bear weight. Life is a marathon. Weights land on us. It’s important to regularly and intentionally remember who God is and what he has done.

The theologian, Walter Brueggemann, translates Psalm 78:11 as God’s people “forgot his impossibilities”.

Oh, that has challenged me! God’s people forgot that God had done the impossible. God had freed them from slavery.

I still sometimes have grey days like the picture where the path ahead looks long and I am not quite sure where it will end, days when I forget that I have been freed from slavery to sin and the fear of death. I forget my loving Saviour is walking with me THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death and that the journey will not end there.

How can we be sure? When we remember that God is God of the impossible, God of resurrection. Our reality is not set - newness breaks in with the presence of the risen Lord. We can dare to dream God’s dreams.

I wonder what are your impossibilities? Did you think your future was set? Is there a scenario in your life that is too hard for the God of impossibilities? Is anyone too hard for God to reach? Jesus looked at a rich man who was carrying too much baggage to squeeze through the narrow gate of God’s kingdom and Jesus said,

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

Lord help us to remember that you are the God of impossibilities. Nothing is impossible with you.