Anything is Possible
Anything is possible when God speaks and we obey. The easy part is the miracle. The hard part is obedience. Obedience is the bridge to the beautiful miracle waiting for us on the other side.
Exodus 14, the famous chapter where Moses parts the red sea and the Israelites escape the hoards of Egyptian armies, is a perfect depiction of this. Israel was positioned by the Lord to camp between the desert and the sea. The sea was on one side and the desert was on the other. The Egyptian army knew exactly where the Israelites were camped and pursued them with great confidence. The Lord spoke to Moses and said raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the water and part the sea. And the waters divided and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground. As soon as the Israelites reached the other side of the sea, the waters returned and drowned the entire Egyptian army.
There are many important lessons to be learned in this story about facing the impossible and so I’ve narrowed down three of them:
1. God positions us to experience the impossible but we must recognize it
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:10, 12-14
God actually positioned the Israelites between the desert and the sea because he wanted to display his power and glory. Even though the Israelites didn’t recognize what God was doing, Moses did. Moses recognized that only God could redeem Israel from the Egyptians and so he put his trust in Him. A key to experiencing the impossible is to recognize that circumstances DO NOT determine the outcome. God determines the outcome and we must recognize that He is in control of our circumstances and that He uses them to display who He is.
2. God partners with us to do the impossible
Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. Exodus 14:16
God wants to use you to do the impossible and obedience is the most important key to experiencing the miraculous. God requires us to trust Him and the only way to truly trust Him is to do what he asks even when it doesn’t make sense to us. Moses couldn’t possibly part the sea with his own staff and hand but God could. Moses showed His great trust in God by doing what he asked Him to do even though he knew in the natural it didn’t make sense.
3. God cares more about your growth than your comfort
But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. Exodus 14:29-31
God will allow you to experience uncomfortable circumstances that require you to trust Him. When you are completely in over your head it is because he is more concerned about your growth than your comfort. He will allow you to find yourself between a rock and a hard place so that you see who He is and who you are in Him and so you have a rich history of faith and trust in God that equips you for years to come. The good news is He is more than wiling and more than capable of the impossible. And He proves Himself faithful every time.
Like the Israelites who stood at the shoreline of the red sea we now stand at the edge of our own impossibility. God is asking us to trust Him and we prove we trust Him by obeying Him. He may be asking you to take a leap of faith, to do something that doesn’t make sense in the natural or to surrender it all to Him. Will you be obedient to what God is asking of you? If so, get ready. God has a tremendous life-altering miracle for you on the other side.
