The Impossible and the Possible

One Year Bible
Old Testament passage for Thursday, March 28, 2013:  Deuteronomy 9:1-10:22

“Hear, O Israel: You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven."  Deuteronomy 9:1 (NKJV)

¹² “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?  Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (NKJV)

God sets each of us up for an awesome life of faith complete with miraculous intervention and impossible situations.  This may seem a bit dramatic, but it is exactly what happened with Israel, and they are a pattern for us (see I Co. 10:1-13).

First, He gives you an IMPOSSIBLE ASSIGNMENT. He sends you into battle against "nations greater and mightier than yourself" (9:1).  It seems that God regularly leads us into challenges.  These are not meant to discourage us or turn us back, but instead to build us into a mighty people.  God's best promises for you are always CONTESTED TERRITORY.

That's the way God operates.  He sends young, small David against a giant named Goliath.  He sends a young woman named Esther to stand against an entire empire.  He uses an uneducated, rag-tag mix of fishermen, mis-fits, and tax collectors to change the world!

Second, He gives you a POSSIBLE LIFESTYLE.  It sounds like this: fear Me, walk with Me, love Me, serve Me, keep My instructions.  I have heard countless people over the years say that they just can't live the way God requires.  My response is, "Of course you can't IN YOUR OWN POWER."  But, God never calls you to live in a way that He will not give you the power to fulfil it!

When we think of becoming the person God wants us to be too often we can think of it in grandiose terms of extreme devotion.  Instead, it is really as simple as loving God and doing what He says right this moment.  Don't worry about tomorrow, just determine that "this is the day that The Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it!" (Psalm 118:24)

You and I are called to a journey that is both beyond possible and impossible.  It is a life of faith and trust in a God who loves us.  Welcome to the adventure!