God Prefers the Impossible

 Do you have an "Impossible List"? Requests you pray on occasion that could never humanly happen.

• A heart so hard, words and testimony seem to only make it harder.
• A dream that died, but you never crossed it off your list.
• A relationship severed. Only God could stitch it back together.
• A mountain in front of you, with no way around. To climb means to take a first step you have no strength to take.

Do you wonder if you should keep praying? Has your "Impossible List" gotten buried in the back pages of your memory, no longer crossing your lips in prayer?

If so, you're not alone.

Throughout time, God's people have faced the impossible again and again. It seems to be His favorite place for them to be.

In fact, author Edward Welch put it this way, "God prefers the impossible."

Hidden in 2 Kings, we find a story of God's people faced with an impossible challenge. Their greatest enemy had come to fight against them.

This was insurmountable enough. But they had another challenge. After a seven-day journey, they had no water for themselves or their animals.

What did God tell them to do?

Dig ditches.

Prepare for His answer.

God was going to answer both their needs. But first, He required them to exercise faith for the lesser of the two.

So they started digging.

They dug ditches, and God filled them with water.

Why?

Because "this is a simple matter in the sight of the LORD" (2 Kings 3:18).

It was nothing for God to provide for their need. They prayed. They did what He asked. They had faith as small as a mustard seed for the smaller need. And He answered.

But that wasn't all.

He is God of the "Also."

God's people were told, ". . . He will deliver the Moabites also into your hand" (2 Kings 3:18).

He promised the valley would be filled with water (v.17). God filled the ditches they dug, and they drank.

In the end, He also filled the country with water (v.20). And He used this provision to help them defeat their enemy.

God used His answer to their lesser need to also meet the greater.

God did the impossible.

[Read the entire story in 2 Kings 3:9-27.]

If the impossible is too hard to pray for, pray for the lesser need at hand.

Have faith for the smaller need.

Dig ditches in preparation for His answer.

And watch.

God prefers to meet the impossible.

Also.

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.

Is there anything too hard for me?" (Jeremiah 32:27)

Photo by Rina Miele on Unsplash