21 Times God Rescued People From Impossible Situations
When confronted with a problem, we're all tempted to take a "logical" or "controllable" way out of trouble ... and perhaps only later ask God what we should do. Even Christian ministries exhibit this tendency – choosing visible options over invisible ones. So they formulate strategies and raise big budgets to yield incremental growth, while ignoring the need to trust God – to do what only He can do. For the Christian, Faith means trusting God's invisible hand will move behind the scenes, when we choose to do it His way, not our way.
Years ago I heard of a Korean pastor who visited America. After seeing our huge churches with massive budgets and spectacular events, his observation was:
"It is amazing what the American church can accomplish ... without God and prayer."
Ouch. That's more indictment than compliment.
Not long ago, I was in a similar scenario. From my perspective, leaders chose business principles and cultural accommodation, while I chose to follow the One who said, "Is anything too difficult for me?" (Jeremiah 32:27). I'm so glad I did, because I saw God rescue me. Again. (Cultural winds and Business textbooks are poor substitutes for God and His Word).
Months earlier, I was sitting at my desk, pondering God's heroics in the Bible. I whipped out my journal and drew three columns. Column A was "Impossible Situation." Column B was "Likely Outcome." And Column C was "Surprising Rescue." Then, in a moment of near-epiphany, my mind flooded with story-after-story of this three-fold paradigm throughout the Bible.
The result is the chart below. I commend it to your learning, for I think it summarizes one of the deepest truths in all of the Bible. God rescues the one who actually trusts in Him. Many will say they trust God, but the evidence is limited. Take a long look at the chart below:
Wow, 21 Old Testament stories where God did the "impossible," rescuing men and women who trusted in Him (rather than finagle their circumstances). Doing it God's way (not man's way) is the secret to an abundant life, rich with stories of God's miraculous rescues!
Of course, these 21 stories are mere fingerprints of the Greatest Story of all. That story envelopes our story:
- Our most Impossible Situation (Column A) is that our spiritual status is utterly ruined by our sin.
- The Likely Outcome for each of us (Column B) is that our sin and rebellion against a holy God leads to judgment and death.
- Yet, God offers a Surprising Rescue (Column C) to each of us. Jesus, the sinless Rescuer, suffered and died in our place, absorbing the penalty for our unholy conduct and character. The result? For the one who stops making excuses and turns to Jesus, they get the following:
God treated Jesus as though he were me, so he now can treat me as though I were him.
This is amazing! So amazing. So, so amazing! I can't wipe the smile off my face as I type this. It's so good.
May you thoroughly enjoy the One who did all this, for you! Do things his way. Trust him. And wait for his rescue.