Insult to God
Once when Jesus’ disciples had expressed concern over the difficulty of a particular aspect of faithfulness to God-
“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” Mt. 19:26.
It’s always a mistake to assume that a thing can’t be done simply because we ourselves can think of no way to do it.
When it comes to our work as the people of God-
God can do things that are greater than we think are possible.
Jeremiah prayed, “Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” Jer. 32:17.
God has never required any person to do the impossible.
It is a consistent principle in both the Old Testament and the New that if God requires a thing-
– then He will supply the ability for it to be done.
That is the meaning of Paul’s wonderful statement in Phil. 4:13:
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
That does not mean that God will help us to achieve any worldly goal that we set for ourselves.
It means that He will supply the wherewithal for us to accomplish His will and do the things that He sets before us as responsibilities.
We need never fear being the position of having to do something for God but not being able to do what is required.
The Bible is full of examples of men and women-
– who placed their faith in God,
– did whatever they were capable of doing,
– and then found out — sometimes to their great amazement — that God can bring great results out of unpromising situations.
We need only think of the story of David and Goliath to remember that-
God is stronger than we are,
– and that it is the person who fights and works in the confidence of God’s help who sees problems solved that were thought to be insoluble.
Actually it is an insult to God-
– for us to become discouraged and pessimistic about the work of the gospel.
Is it our work?
Does it depend on our power?
Of course not.
And if, as we believe-
God has called us to participate in His work,
– then He will supply the solutions to whatever problems may arise.
Paul wrote, “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.” 2 Cor. 3:4,5.