Hello,
How familiar are you with the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going? Sometimes, it feels as though that’s all we have – tough going. But what do we do when God asks the impossible?
Here’s your Holy Nougat for today
And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand.
1 Kings 17:11 ASV
I can just see the widow’s jaw going slack in shock! For though she agreed in principle to obey the Lord
(see verse 9, when the Lord assures Elijah that the widow has been advised of his arrival), this was a step too far! She was getting water to share with a stranger, this Man of God, DURING A DROUGHT, and now the man wanted the last of her food. Made by her! She ‘offered him a horse, he want saddle and bridle’; that wasn’t part of the deal! Or was it?
But, the truth is, God never asks the impossible from us without already establishing the miraculous to make the impossible possible. [Note to self – THIS really is SO, take heed]. So telling us to accommodate a servant of the Lord, or a stranger who looks worse for the wear, or someone who is sick or imprisoned, or a refugee, or a migrant (also referred to as an alien) is not outside of God’s expectations of us. Even if it seems impractical or fiscally, emotionally, spiritually unwise, once God is in the details, a way WILL be made. And if the Lord assures us provision and preparation have been made for us somewhere, rest assured – it is. Especially when it seems naturally impossible.
So, has the Lord been asking for some major leaps of faith recently? Asking for bread out of dust? Telling us to feed a multitude with limited/no resources? Sending us to loose donkeys that don’t belong to us? Or build arks in a season of drought? Perhaps it’s time to look beyond the impossible to see how God is at work.
How has the Lord been stretching your faith recently? What has been your response to God’s impossible requests?
Lord, we do believe, but how can we trust in these times of empty?
In Christ’s love and grace
