The angel Gabriel told Mary that she would experience the impossible. She would miraculously conceive and bear a child while still a virgin.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. —Luke 1:31-33

To conceive a child without any involvement of a man is and always will be impossible. *

Yet God is the God of the impossible. He is the one who invented the laws of nature. He can circumvent them if he chooses. If conceiving apart from a man was impossible enough, this child would not only be a human, but he would be God – “the Son of the Most High.” “Most High” is an Old Testament name of God.

This child would be the long awaited descendant of David, the Messiah, whose kingdom would last forever. Gabriel told Mary that not only would God do the impossible, but he would go beyond the impossible to do what she could never have dreamed.

And to build Mary’s faith that God could do this he said,

“And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” (36-37)

Elizabeth had conceived a son “in her old age.” Luke 1:7 says that she was “advanced in years.” Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah had never been able to conceive, though they’d tried and tried. On top of that, she was now well past the time when anyone could get pregnant.

But God is the God of the impossible. Nothing is too hard for him.

And if you think of it, here’s an even greater impossibility: for sinful men to come to God. Unless God changes someone’s heart, they will never come to God. For we are born in sin, at enmity with God, hostile to Him. We have no interest in God, no taste for Him, no desire for Him. We are born loving darkness. We love sin. We hate the light. No one is good. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside and become worthless. It is impossible for us in our natural state to come to God.

Not only is it impossible on our end, it is impossible on God’s end for sinners to come to Him, unless of course, something happens. For He is infinitely holy and will not tolerate sin in His presence. No one can stand in the presence of the Consuming Fire unless they are sinless and perfectly righteous. He is high and lifted up and dwells in the holy of holies, where no one stained by sin can possibly enter.

But nothing is impossible with God. He changes the hearts of those who despise Him. He gives saving faith to those who don’t believe in Him. He causes those who love sin to hunger and thirst for righteousness. He makes the proud humble. He washes filthy sinners clean and clothes them with the righteousness of Christ. He makes those who disdain Him long for Him with a pure and holy passion.

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Are you facing an impossible situation? Do you look at it and see no earthly way it could change? Maybe you look at a family member who seems to have no interest in God at all, and it seems like he or she is just too far gone to save. Nothing will be impossible with God!

Maybe you can see no way for God to provide financially for you – remember Jesus fed crowds of 5,000 and 7,000 from a few fish and loaves of bread. He spoke to typhoons and calmed the winds and waves. When He needed money for the temple tax He told Peter to go fishing and he’d catch a fish with a coin in its mouth.

Nothing will be impossible with God. Maybe you feel like you can’t break out of a sin you are ensnared in. You’ve tried to quit and you can’t. Nothing will be impossible with God.

Whatever you are praying for, unless God has made it absolutely clear that the answer is no, then keep asking, keep knocking, keep seeking. Maybe it’s a sickness you’ve had for years. Keep asking, knocking seeking. Yes, God is sovereign and he takes us through afflictions and he promises to work them all for our good. Sometimes He doesn’t answer in the way we would like, but don’t quit asking!

Don’t give up! Nothing is too hard for our God. Nothing is impossible to him. Who knows, this may be the Christmas he answers your prayers.

 

*This article was originally written/published by the author under the title “The God of the Impossible.”