Impossible situations

Do you have an impossible situation in your life? Is it your marriage? Your kids? Your health? Your past that eats you up because it is irrevocable?

God knew that we would be sad about situations that seem impossible, and so for our encouragement he included many true stories in his Word about “impossible” things and the way they turned out.

In 2 Kings 6 and 7, Samaria was besieged by Syria, and there was a famine so severe that people were reduced to cannibalism. A donkey’s head was being sold for 80 shekels of silver. Elisha came to town and told the distraught king that by the same time tomorrow, food would be affordable again. The officer next to the king didn’t believe it was possible and said so out loud (7:2). Then, through a series of curious events that you and I could not have conceived of, flour and barley did indeed suddenly glut the market within 24 hours.

In Genesis 37 Joseph learned through a symbolic dream that he would be a ruler and that even his family would bow down to him. It seemed impossible. First of all, he was the second youngest of the clan. Secondly, he was sold into slavery to a foreign country. But through a series of curious events, the promise of God came true. In Psalm 105:16-19, we learn that the Lord was actually testing Joseph through those “impossible” events, to see if he still believed.

In Judges 20 the tribe of Benjamin was almost entirely wiped out. Mathematically speaking it seemed impossible to contemplate any outcome but that Israel would lose one of its tribes. But I see throughout Scripture that God was adamant about preserving the full number 12. How was He going to pull this one out of a hat? In Judges 21 we see how through a series of curious events, the Lord saw to it that his 12-tribe nation would remain intact.

In the Old Testament there are strands that suggest the Messiah will be a Savior for His people, and strands that say He will be a suffering Servant. This seems a mutually exclusive prediction. But through a configuration of events too hard for us to conceive of, God performed it.

Give your impossible situation over to God and tell Him that you trust Him to be wonderful again. Then wait and watch.