God of the Impossible! (part 1)
I have long been captivated by the story of the Israelites journey to the promised land. The Israelites were in slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt. God sent Moses to Free the Israelites from the hand of Pharaoh, from bondage, and to bring them out of Egypt and into the promised land. We see the hand of God at work on behalf of the Israelites time and again. So much so that Pharaoh sent them out with his blessing, and the word says the Lord gave them favor with the Egyptians so that they plundered them of their gold and silver jewelry and clothing. You see God not only freed them from slavery, but sent them out with riches and provision for their journey. The Israelites had traveled as far as the Red Sea when God stopped them at this body of water. At that same time Pharaoh realized what he had done; he just set free 2 million slaves! He immediately mobilized his army to pursue them. Exodus 14:6,9 tells us that “Pharaoh took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.” In those days a chariot consisted of 2 men, and with officers over them all that meant 3 men per chariot. So in 600 chariots he sent 1800 of his special forces, the elite of his army. But as if that wasn’t enough, pharaoh also sent all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over tho as well, and his horsemen and his full army. He was serious about his pursuit and pursued them with great intent steal, kill & destroy the promises of God over the Israelites.
Exodus 14:10 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.” Pharaoh and all his army and chariots, and officers were pursuing the Israelites with great force and intent. They were close enough that the Israelites looked up and saw them approaching, which means this vast and powerful army had the Israelites in their sights as well. What lay ahead of the Israelites was an impossible circumstance. They were physically cornered by those that were seeking their destruction. They had nowhere to run, no where to flee. Behind them was the sea and in front of them was this large and intimidating approaching army. There was no way of escape except the way they had come in, and the Egyptian army had that covered. It’s no wonder that when they looked up and saw all of Pharaoh’s army coming after them, they feared greatly. I don’t fault the Israelites for this; I think if we were honest with ourselves, we all would have that same response.
Let’s admit it, we all face impossible circumstances at many points in our life. For some those might be financial: the impending loss of a job, the foreclosure of a home, the loss of a business, the inability to pay the bills or put food on the table no matter how hard we try; for others maybe they’re relational: a struggling marriage, a broken friendship, a family in utter disarray. Maybe I haven’t mentioned yours, but God knows. We’ve all been there, somehow, somewhere, and the truth is we will be again. It’s inevitable. It’s life. But there is Good News Here: Your impossible circumstances have the opportunity to bring glory to God…if you let them!
That’s right, I said the if word. It’s our choice as to whether we allow God the opportunity in our impossible circumstances. It’s our choice to call out to him, cry out to him in our distress. It’s our choice to believe Him, trust Him, follow Him even when our eyes can’t see his deliverance. I love this: the Israelites not only had God’s appointed man, Moses, as their leader, but God himself was leading the Israelites with a pillar of fire by night, and a cloud by day. There was absolutely no denying the fact that God had been with them, and was with them, leading them on a journey out of Egypt, across the desert and into the promised land. This army was coming after them with the intent of destruction, bringing them back to slavery. But Moses was still there, leading them…and God was still there, physically present with them in the pillar of fire and the cloud, guiding their every step. His presence had not left them, though it was now harder to focus on that fact in their present reality, overwhelmed by their impossible circumstance.
Be honest, how often do we do that? We are walking along in life, being led by God as He lights our path before us, and then a circumstance rises up against us and we get tunnel vision. Our focus narrows to our circumstance and we no longer see the big picture, the truth that God is still with us to light the path before us; we only see our impossible circumstance. We become overwhelmed by our circumstance, but we must not forget that God is with us, we still have the indwelling presence of God with us at all times and even in those impossible circumstances of life.
What is your first instinct when confronted with impossible circumstances? Who do you run to with your problems? Who do you look to? So often we look to others first before we look to God when we get into those impossible circumstances. We forget that, just as God was physically present with the Israelites, so also He has given us His very Spirit to dwell within us. He’s always right there, always with us. Let’s be truthful, our first instinct is to run to those closest to us and let it all out. We get the Eyore syndrome. Woe is me, life is hard. We busy ourselves thinking about our circumstances, so much so that we become anxious at the thoughts of impending doom that overwhelm our minds; we try everything we know to fix it on our own. But here’s the reality…we aren’t our own Savior, we aren’t God. We need to put Him in His rightful place and admit that we can’t do ANYTHING to make our impossible circumstances work in our favor. It’s just not possible ~ that’s why they’re called impossible circumstances.
There’s the quote that I hear a lot: “Don’t tell God how big your mountains are, tell your mountains how big your God is!” But, I want to tweak it a bit… “Don’t tell others how big your mountains are, tell your mountains how big your God is!” You see, we do need to call out to the Lord. When we are faced with impossible circumstances, that should be our FIRST response. Philippians 4:6-7 tells us “Do not be anxious about anything (I’d say the Israelites were anxious), but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” You see, if we call out to God first, then our anxiety should subside because we know that He is God and bigger than our circumstances. We submit it to Him in prayer, and in exchange we receive His peace that surpasses all understanding to guard our heart and mind. It might not make sense to have peace in the midst of impossibilities, but it is possible with God! And the beauty of that is our hearts and minds are guarded. Our thought life and our emotions are guarded against going out of control within the impossible circumstance because we have submitted it to God! Our tunnel vision disappears and we are able to see the fact that God is with us even in the midst of our impossible circumstances!
