September 12: Impossible? No such thing...

Isaiah 10:1-11:16
2 Cor 12:11-21
Psalm 56:1-13
Proverbs 23:6-8

Isaiah 11:6-9
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra's den,
the young child will put its hand into the viper's nest.

I can only imagine people's reactions to Isaiah's words when he first proclaimed them. "Wait, what did he say? Is he joking? He must be crazy." Because, other than Noah and the ark, I don't recall any zoos in the Old Testament where the animals could live in peaceful proximity; I don't believe they were set up with cages and displays where children could play near snakes and lions and leopards. They would have thought what Isaiah was saying was so impossible it was crazy.

But His Word is true - so there is a lesson I am still struggling to learn: impossible may as well be our God's middle name. He specializes in what we think is impossible; He feasts on it the way I feast on sushi, He relishes the prospect of doing something impossible the way I relish tearing into a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich in the morning, He delights in doing something impossible the way I delight in seeing the results when my eyes are open and pointed in the right direction.

And so we can trust Him. And we can entrust everything to Him - even what, to us, would be impossible. Because it isn't impossible - not for Him. Marital problems? Give them to Him. Willful children, refusing to listen, falling for the world's false promises? Lift them up into His care. Unemployment in a difficult job market? He's got that. Persistent sin? He'll take that too. Remember: He is God, and so we can pray:

3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
- Psalm 56:3-4