Have you ever faced impossible situations? Have you ever experienced that you needed deliverance but you were convinced that you could not help yourself. It was as if you faced a brick wall. No friends could help you; no relatives could deliver you. Even your wife or your husband could not help you. You were totally unable to deliver yourself. This reality can be deeply experienced in our life.

Impossibilities in Daily Life⤒🔗

There can be situations in your daily life that are most perplexing. For instance, there is a child who does not want to obey and is bent on destroying himself. There may be a financial crisis that you cannot avoid or a tragic accident that causes deep grief. There may be a parent who is mentally ill and cannot be reached by reasoning. Or you may suddenly become very ill and there is no cure for your illness. Death may be staring you in the face — we could continue with many more impossible situations.

Impossibilities in Spiritual Life←⤒🔗

There can be impossible situations in spiritual life. God's Spirit convicts you and shows you that you are lost and without Christ. You realize that you need a mighty work of God's saving grace in your life. You see the power of indwelling sin, but are unable to curb it. You try to witness for Christ, but your words seem to fall on deaf ears. These are all impossible situations that are beyond your own power to solve. You realize you are completely helpless.

Only God Provides Deliverance←⤒🔗

There is only One who can help. That is the Lord Himself. He has all authority and all power in heaven and on earth.

He is mighty to save you because He is the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This reality gives light in the darkest situations. This awareness gives hope in the most hopeless situations. When you cannot help yourself and no human being can deliver you, when all your ways are fenced in and you see no hope, there is still God.

In Matthew 19 the disciples were also struck by the impossibility of being saved from man's side. But then we read in verse 26, "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible" (cf. Mark 10:27). When the angel Gabriel informs Mary of the miraculous birth of the Messiah, he says, "For with God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37)

God Works Through Impossibilities←⤒🔗

The Lord always works by ways and means that seem impossible. Just think of the patriarch Abraham who had to leave Ur of the Chaldees and move to a far-away country. It was a most dangerous thing to do. Warlords and bandits were ready to kill him and steal his flocks. But Abraham went in faith, knowing that what is impossible with men is possible with God. Later, Abraham experienced the blow that his wife, Sarah, could not conceive a child. Abraham had to wait. Although Sarah was far beyond the age of childbearing, God worked the impossible and she conceived and gave birth to a child.

There were also Isaac and Rebekah. They needed a child to continue the covenant line of promise. Humanly speaking, this looked impossible. If they did not receive a child from the Lord they could not be saved. The Saviour had to come through the conception of a child and they knew it.

They knew they must receive a child and they themselves were unable to bring this about. They faced an impossibility.

The reality of our impossibilities, compared to God's almighty power, is continually underscored in Scripture. The Lord always works along impossible ways. The existence of the church in this hostile world is an utter impossibility. How can the church continue to exist? How did it ever come into existence? There were just a few men from Galilee who were sent to preach a new doctrine. Could that be the beginning of the church?

There is a crucified Saviour, but how can He save lost sinners? When He died the disciples thought everything was lost. They thought they could go on. the Lord provides a glorious way out and showed His disciples that He conquers death by His own death.

Later, when the Lord sends the disciples out to preach, it looks impossible that they will ever establish a church. From their side it is impossible. They will be killed instead! How can the church ever be established?

From man's side it is impossible. But Luke 18:27 states, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God." The Lord worked along with the disciples and the Holy Spirit blessed their preaching. The church was planted by God's irresistible power.

How can the church survive in the hostile environment of severe persecutions? The answer, again, lies not in man, but in God. It is because the Lord Jesus said, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand "(John 10:28).

God Does What We Cannot Do←⤒🔗

God Himself does what we cannot do. That has always been the secret of God's people. The spiritual birth of every one of them is an impossibility. They are all dead in sins and trespasses, lost and unwilling to seek the Lord. They are all on the way to perdition and feel no conviction and have no concern. But the Lord does the impossible! Unwilling children are changed into people of God! Spiritual life is granted.

A church is planted; it grows and exists wherever it pleases the Lord to plant His church. In spite of overwhelming opposition, His church will continue to exist. In every generation there will be those who will fear and love the Lord. That is His work.

This is also experienced in our personal life. God works in spite of our impossibilities. There may be many per­plexing questions, such as: "How can I ever be righteous before God? How can I ever be converted? My heart is so hard, my heart is so cold and my heart is so unwilling. I cannot love Him as I should." All these observations are true. No good thing will ever come forth from sinful man. But our fruit and our spiritual life are found in Christ. It comes from Him! God works a glorious work and He saves to the uttermost. He enters sinner's hearts and changes and renews them.

God Grants Deliverance←⤒🔗

The blessed reality is that God grants deliverance. When you see only impossibilities in your life and all your ways are hedged up, there is still a God in heaven Who can save to the uttermost. He hears the needy when they cry. He saves their souls when death draws near.

This can be a material or a spiritual need. When your sins accuse you and you see the need of the Lord Jesus in your heart, trust in Him. Call upon Him with expectation. He will not refuse you. You may lean on the Lord and put your hope in Him. Those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. In spite of all their impossibilities, the Lord can give a full deliverance. Those who wait upon the Lord shall not be put to shame. In their daily life the Lord may lead His people into impossible situations to show them His great power to deliver from every need.

Prayer←⤒🔗

The way to receive this deliverance is by prayer. The Lord Jesus has taught us in the parable of the unjust judge and the importunate widow that we should pray continually and we should not give up.

At times the Lord withholds the fulfillment for a while. In His wisdom He does not always answer immediately. But deliverance comes at exactly the right time. It never comes too soon or too late. The Lord can bear with us long and can seem to wait a long time before giving full deliverance to His people (Luke 18:7). There are many verses in Scripture that call us to persevere in prayer. We are to knock because we are promised that it shall be opened unto us. We are to seek and are promised that we shall find. By struggling in prayer, we may be encouraged by the rich promises of God. God's promis­es are as lights shining in the darkness of afflictions. Commenting on Genesis 25:21, Calvin states: "God shows that He never turns a deaf ear to the wishes of His faithful people, although He may long defer the answer."