But, God Can

Sunday, ‎January ‎29, ‎2023

Good morning, Lord

Verse of the Day: For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

Memory verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Readings: EXODUS 21-22 MATTHEW 19

But God Can

Matthew 19:26 has always said the same thing, right? The King James Bible says it like this:

"But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

There was a lot that happened in this short time. It is not just a moment in time but a moment for the ages, It says a lot and sometimes we miss so much and that is the case with me. I had not seen a lot. I knew there was something there because I would read it and hear it and something bothered me. What bothered me was that God wanted me to dig and I had not done that until now.

First, Jesus 'beheld them'. This means Jesus discerned His men and saw they did not understand. This is us. After all the study and prayer, sometimes we just need to look at the Lord and say, "I don't get it, Lord help me to understand". There is nothing wrong with telling Jesus you don't understand.

Jesus did and does everything in compassion. He always cuts to the truth when we ask Him. He said, "With man it is impossible". The men had asked, "Who then can be saved?". Jesus saw the hopelessness that His disciples had recognized. This is something that all people must realize. Another way of saying what Jesus said is, "Man cannot save himself". This is what the disciples heard and felt. This was a profound moment for them and Jesus felt deep compassion for them and said, "But with God, it is possible-all things are possible."

Whenever we feel hopeless-and that does happen a lot more than we want to admit-we must know and come to feel the truth of Christ in our lives. Jesus, in His infinite mercy and grace, hears our desperation and always speaks if we are listening. He always admits man's hopelessness without the divine intervention of God.

So, admit your hopeless feeling and hear Jesus say to you personally, "With God it can be done and if you trust me and obey, it will be done."

We say, "God I cannot do this!". And God, in compassion and mercy says, "Of course you can't in your own strength, but with my power there is nothing you cannot do".

Paul had a thorn in the flesh recorded in 2 Corinthians 12. He pleaded with God to take it away three times and God said, "My grace is sufficient...". This followed 2 Corinthians 11 where Paul told of getting 39 lashes 5 times and beaten with rods and stoned. These had killed other men, but with God, Paul was delivered. Why? So we could learn, 2000 years later, that with God, all things are possible-so we could hear Paul say in Philippians 4:11 that he had learned to be content in anything.

Learning to be content means we have, by the grace of God, been raised above the hopelessness of self-full-ness and learned to embrace the peace of our Lord in our hearts.

Jesus always sees us right where we are and says," but with God all things are possible." He sees us as we are and says to us, "humble yourself and obey and all things will happen according to my will, trust Me."

God always can and, in His will, always will. Paul had a thorn that stayed but had been delivered from death many times over and was content with it all because of his faith.

Our faith is given, Ephesians 2:8&9, as a gift from God. It is not of self-it is of God. It is a perfect faith from God. It is to be grown and developed and strengthened. You say you have little faith? With man, faith is impossible. Without trusting in God, faith is an idea. Great faith in your life is God's gift where all things are possible.

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

Forgive me my weak faith and my failure to seek Your strength in my faith. I seek Your strength. Give me that resolve to trust. I praise You for all the things You have brought me through and my deliverance in Your Kingdom.

Merciful and gracious God.

In the name of Jesus,

Amen