When The Possible Overtakes The Impossible

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26 ESV)

Years ago I served as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy.  My first duty station was at a Naval hospital on a Marine Corps base.  One day I was talking to a second lieutenant about athletes and I mentioned the leaping ability of a certain male ballet dancer.  The marine officer became very agitated and blurted out, “That’s impossible!  If he could leap that high he would be a basketball player or an Olympic high-jumper!”  So much for a high view of artistic expression…

We may smile and shake our heads when we hear such silliness; but, truth be told, from time to time each of us is guilty of this kind of categorical rejection of anything beyond the realm of our experience.  And, of course, we often speak in absolute terms to emphasize whatever point we are trying to make.  Recently my wife reminded me of a time when I had to write a very difficult research paper.  I came to her and said, “This is impossible!  I can’t do it.”  Then I went back to the computer and did it.  It wasn’t that I accomplished the impossible—I just chipped away at the difficult until the possible overtook the impossible.

But there are things in life that truly are impossible.  A few examples come quickly to mind.  A virgin cannot conceive a child while remaining a virgin.  The dead cannot come back to life.  And no man or woman can save themselves from sin, death, and eternal punishment.  These are impossibilities for us.  They are not impossible for God—nothing is impossible for God.  When God arrives on the scene the possible overtakes the impossible!

God Incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ, was born of a virgin (see Luke 1:26-45).  Jesus not only raised the dead to life (see Luke 8:49-55; Luke 7:11-17), but He Himself was raised from the dead (see Matthew 28; Mark 6; Luke 24; John 10:17-18; John 20; Acts 4:8-11; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Revelation 1:12-18).  And through believing in Jesus Christ, by trusting in His Name and His substitutionary death, God saves men and women from sin, from death, and from eternal punishment:

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11-12 ESV)

Saving souls from sin and death is something only God can do.  I cannot save myself.  You cannot save yourself.  The law of Moses could not save sinners.  No man or institution can save you from sin and death.  But when Jesus Christ came into the world and fulfilled all the law of Moses, He was deemed worthy to be the Lamb without spot or blemish.  Only Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), could make the perfect sacrifice for sin. When God poured out His wrath for the sins of the world upon His Son, and then raised Christ to life, the possible overtook the impossible!

            ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. (Jeremiah 32:17 ESV)

Are you faced with an impossibility in your life just now?  With God all things are possible.  Do you find yourself overwhelmed by circumstances bearing down upon you?  Nothing is too hard for God.  Are you confronted by the limits of your own abilities?  God has made the heavens and the earth by His great power and outstretched arm.  God has overcome sin and death.

When we find ourselves in difficult situations, when impossibilities seem to cascade down upon our heads, there is a strong and immediate temptation to engineer our own deliverance.  Yet, these are the very times when we need to transcend our immediate circumstances, to rise above the fray so that we can see and think clearly.  But how to do that?         

            Who among you fears the LORD

                        and obeys the voice of his servant?

            Let him who walks in darkness

                        and has no light

            trust in the name of the LORD

                        and rely on his God.

(Isaiah 50:10 ESV)

What does it mean that we trust in the name of the Lord and rely on our God?  To trust in the name of the Lord actually means that we are trusting in all that God is—His name represents His character—all that God is in all His attributes.  To rely on God means to depend on Him with full confidence that God is who He says He is and that God will do what He says He will do.  What does this trust and reliance look like?  Here are a few practical aspects of trusting in the name of the Lord God and relying upon our God:

1. We must train ourselves to ask for God’s help as the first resort, the only resort—not the last resort.  When we are in crisis mode our training kicks in.  If we have not invested in spiritual training for our souls ahead of time, we will resort to our own thoughts and schemes.  Our spiritual survival depends upon our souls being trained to seek after hard wisdom instead of easy answers.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

            and why are you in turmoil within me?

     Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

                 my salvation and my God.

     (Psalm 42:5 ESV)

2. We remind ourselves that we trust in God to save us in two ways:  He is the only one who can or has rescued us from sin and death through the substitutionary death of His Son, Jesus Christ; and, God is the only one who can save or rescue us out of the circumstances of life that seem to conspire against our survival.  It also means that we rely upon God, not upon our own cleverness or the schemes of other fallen creatures.

           The LORD is my light and my salvation;

                      whom shall I fear?

          The LORD is the stronghold of my life;

                      of whom shall I be afraid?

                            (Psalm 27:1 ESV)

3. When we bring our concerns to God, the burden for resolving our situation is lifted from our shoulders, allowing peace to quiet the chaos of our hearts and minds.  This, in turn, positions us to hear God’s thoughts on our situation.  Jesus invites His disciples to come.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)

4. By trusting in the name of the Lord and relying on our God, we humble ourselves before God and testify to family, friends, and foes alike that we are able to transcend our immediate circumstances only by the grace of our gracious God.  Furthermore, any victory we experience in our situation is a gift freely bestowed upon us from above.

 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV)

5. By relying upon the Lord to work out the solution to our circumstances, we are assured of the best possible outcome.

           For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

                      neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.

          For 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 ESV)

The list could go on indefinitely, but the point is this: when we trust in the name of the Lord and rely on our God, light begins to dawn upon our circumstances.  We are preparing for the possible to overtake the impossible.

A final point I want to make has to do with this idea of the possible overtaking the impossible.  What this often means in the humdrum of daily living is that by inclining our hearts to God in earnest and humble supplication, God graciously gives us a completely unexpected viewpoint on our situation.  Maybe we have to make a momentous decision affecting our family’s future and there appear to be only two choices: bad and worse.  As we seek the mind of the Lord, perhaps a previously unexplored option comes to mind or some crucial factor that was overlooked in our discussions. Or, more humbling still, one of the kids says, “What about thus and such…?”  A solution so simple only a child could think of it!

God is God of the possible and the impossible, but it seems to me that He must see Himself only as God of the possible, since nothing is impossible for Him.  But please don’t misconstrue what I am saying.  This is not a message about the spectacular overtaking the mundane!  In fact, most of the time when the possible overtakes the impossible, our circumstances do not show any outward signs of change.  We may still appear to be in an impossible situation, but our minds and hearts are suddenly infused with the assurance that God has made a way where there did not appear to be a way.  It is now possible for us to go on.  This is what Paul wrote to encourage the Corinthian believers:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV)

When you are walking in the darkness of temptation and have no light and you trust in the name of the Lord and rely on your God, He will provide a way out.  In this passage, Paul does not say that God will rescue your out of your situation, but that the possible will overtake the impossible.  When you are hard pressed to see a way out of the temptation, God will provide the necessary light in the darkness (a way out) to enable you to get your spiritual breath and mental bearings again (so that you can stand up under it).  Yes, there are times when God will lift you out of the situation, but the usual path for the disciple is to learn to draw upon the strength and wisdom of God in order to stand up under it.  This path provides us with truly God-glorifying testimonies that impart life to our spiritual family.

There is nothing of the spectacular hinted at here, just the possible.  But when the possible overtakes the impossible even in the tiniest details of life, that is the truly spectacular.  That is the grace of God in the life of His people.

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26 ESV)

Soli Deo Gloria!