No Doubt About It

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. - Matthew 19:26

This morning, I had the opportunity to read some thought-provoking thoughts from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Here are just a couple of the quotes I read. What pops into your mind as you read them?

"There's no use trying," [Alice] said, "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

"For you see, so many out-of-the way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things were really impossible."

Believing in the impossible. What a great lesson for believers and unbelievers alike. More than once, the Bible states that nothing is impossible with God. He can do all things. Because the Bible says it, we know it's true. So why don't we act like we know it's true? Why does it take so little to shake our faith?

I'm currently teaching a series on God's promises in our ladies' Sunday School class. So far, the series has taken us through several different events with Jesus and his disciples. We've seen the disciples sent out by two's to preach and heal. We've seen the feeding of the 5,000. We've seen the calming of the storm and the calming of the spirit of the maniac of Gadara. What catches my attention is that from one miracle to the next, the disciples never seem to grasp the power of the One they are with. They watch Him work a miracle, but at the very next sign of trouble, they wring their hands and moan, "Now what are we going to do?" Just once, I'd like to see them turn to Jesus and say, "Wow, this is really a predicament, but we've seen you solve worse problems than this. What do you want us to do, Lord?" Just once, I'd like to see myself do the same.

It's easy to say that I believe God can do the impossible. It's another thing to live like it. And in that area, I'm afraid I have to say that I fail daily. I want to believe. I want to trust. But there's this nagging doubt in the back of my mind that says, "Yes, He's God, but this is a really big problem. You'd better try to handle this one on your own." Brilliant, huh? Instead of handing my problems over to the Almighty God, I keep them in my own hands. Me. You know, the one who can't walk and chew gum at the same time. The one who can't find her way to the mall without the aid of a map or GPS. The one who can't grasp the simple meaning behind faith. Yeah, that's a great idea.

Oh, Lord, forgive me of my doubts and my fears. Please forgive me for thinking that I could handle things that are way over my head. Help me, Lord, to trust in You. You are the God of the impossible. You can do all things. You don't need my help or my permission. You have it under control. Help me to not only believe in Your power, but also to act like I believe in it. Help me to live my life in assurance that You can meet every need.