“Virtually nothing is impossible in this world if you just put your mind to it and maintain a positive attitude”- Lou Holtz “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination” -Tommy Lasorda. “The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done” – Arnold Palmer
It could mean to believe the impossible could be possible or to believe that something seemingly impossible is actually possible. It could also mean to believe that things which most people consider impossible, is actually possible. Faith means not having any evidence that what you have asked God for will become a reality, but being convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that it will happen. Faith believes that what God promised He is able to perform. Satya Nadella, the new CEO of Microsoft, while writing his first message to his employees has made an interesting statement, “Man can believe the impossible, but man can never believe the improbable”. Why? Because the impossible is just an idea which can never materialize so one doesn’t have to do anything to make it happen, but the improbable can happen if one gears up all the energies, takes the risk and strives hard. Very few have this courage so it is convenient not to believe in the improbable. “Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing.” – John Andrew Holmes
The Watchtower 2012 had this to say, “The Titanic, launched in 1912, was the largest and most luxurious ocean liner of its time. Because of its advanced scientific design, the vessel was considered “unsinkable.” What happened, of course, is history. On its maiden voyage, it struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank, taking down with it some 1,500 of its passengers. The ship that was said to be impossible to sink vanished in the depths of the ocean in just a few hours. Many of today’s technological accomplishments were at one time viewed as impossible because at the time, those things were beyond the ability of man to do or even to foresee. Putting a man on the moon, sending a vehicle to Mars and controlling it from Earth, mapping the human genetic code, and seeing a news event as it happens across town or across the globe—these are realities now that may have been described as impossible even just 50 years ago.” Little wonder, Professor John Brobeck observed: “A scientist is no longer able to say honestly something is impossible. He can only say it is improbable. But he may be able to say something is impossible to explain in terms of our present knowledge.” If something appears impossible to us, the professor went on to say, “one thing that needs to be added is a source of energy unknown to us in our biological and physiological sciences. In our Scriptures this source of energy is identified as the power of God.”
Long before Professor Brubeck’s observation, the scripture brings us the story of Jesus of Nazareth, who is God incarnate, and has been described as the greatest man who ever lived, said: “The things impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27). God’s Holy Spirit is the most powerful force in the universe. It cannot be measured in any technological way. Holy Spirit can enable us to do things that are impossible in our own strength. As humans, we often find ourselves in situations that we feel are impossible to deal with. For example, we may lose a loved one in death or our family life may become so stressful that we feel we cannot continue. Perhaps our way of life has taken us to the depths of despair and we feel there is no way out. We feel helpless and desperate. What can we do?
Abraham’s wife Sarah at the age of 90, laughed when she was told that she would give birth to a son, but the existence of the Israelite people is proof that she did. A man named Jonah was swallowed by a large fish, survived the three-day experience, and lived to write his own story. Luke, a doctor who knew the difference between a state of unconsciousness and death, records in Acts how Eutychus, a young man, who fell from the window of an upper room and died Paul brought him back to life. These are neither fables nor gain saying. A careful examination of each of these accounts will verify their authenticity.—Genesis 18:10-14;21:1, 2; Jonah 1:17; 2:1, 10; Acts 20:9-12. Jesus said to Martha: “Everyone that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all.”, Jesus added to this seemingly impossible promise a soul-searching question: “Do you believe this?”(John 11:26). That question is still valid today for our careful consideration. “Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their mind, cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw
The story of the healing at the Pool of Bethesda contained in Chapter 5 of the Gospel of John is an interesting one yet very challenging. Among the numerous disabled people that lay at the side of the Pool, was a sick man who had been crippled for long, as long as 38 years. He waited hopelessly in a sense that he had nobody to help him. They were waiting for the water to be stirred. From time to time an angel of the Lord came down and stirred up the waters. The first person to get into the pool after the water was stirred would be healed. The writer of John gospel did not say when the crippled man was brought to the Pool but how long he had waited there.
Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. In the city, there was a popular Pool with 5 porches where many sick people lied closed to it. As Jesus passed by or visited the pool, He saw the crippled and was told he has had that sickness for a long time. And Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” As I read this story severally, my mind pondered on a lot of issues: I observed that the crippled knew he had nobody to help take him into the pool when the water was stirred, yet he continued to wait. Was he hoping on a surprised and kept praying? When Jesus saw the man, He asked him, do you want to get well? Funny, isn’t it? You may wonder why Jesus would ask a man who has been waiting for healing, do you want to get well.
The crippled responded to Jesus, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in someone else goes down ahead me” (vs. 7). The crippled never believed in any other possible kind of healing method except the water stirred by the angel and you must be the first to go in there. The crippled may have told Jesus his predicaments hoping He will hang in there, waiting for an angel to stir the water and He will help to take him first into water. However, even though the cripple waited for 38 years hopelessly but he still believed in a surprise from the throne of grace.
Have you waited for a long time and one day the God of suddenly showed up and miracle happened? Jesus showed up 4 days after Lazarus was buried. The corpse must have decomposed and stinky. Yet Mary and Martha trusted that Jesus can still do something when He arrived (John 11). Similar situation happened at the City of Nain, where Jesus raised a dead boy on their way to the cemetery (Luke 7:11f). In the book of 2 kings 4:32, Elisha restored to life the Shunammite’s son. Even when the woman knew her son was death, she still professed “All is well” and trusted that the God of Elisha, could restore her son to life.
Have you stayed a long time to get married? Anyone who comes to your path turns away and refuses to stay or make commitment. Some people mock you and even the God that made you. Some have laugh at you for not having a child. Medical experts may have stated that you will not be able to make babies anymore. But come to think about it, they do not have final say. God can do the impossible at His own time and in His own way. We get hopeless and faithless but Jesus showed up in the hopeless situation. “The Universe is big. It’s vast and complicated and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen. And we call them Miracles.” – Doctor Who Quote.