I heard a story the other day about God radically intervening in a man’s life. His grandfather came to him and said,
“God is chasing you. Invite Him into your problems.”
What a simple yet profound statement. Too often, we allow our problems to be what keeps us apart from God. But what if we, instead, invited Him into our mess, into our problems?
There’s another story you and I know well.
The angel Gabriel visits a teenage girl named Mary. “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 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.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God…
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
What are the problems you need to invite God into? What are the pieces in your life that seem helpless, unchangeable, impossible?
Whether it’s finances, broken relationships, family conflict, infertility, loneliness, or illness– our God is the God of the impossible. Invite Him into the impossible mess and see why He does.
As Dr. Joye Baker so perfectly penned, “Because of Christmas and the miraculous birth of our Savior, we have someone who intercedes for us. We are able to pray and ask God for things that may seem impossible, such as physical healing, relational restoration, financial security, the salvation of a loved one, etc.
When God chooses not to do the impossible, this, too, is part of His will. We know God is able, but sometimes the impossible is not His plan. Our choice is to believe, trust, and accept His plan. When we do, we can experience peace in the midst of distress, contentment in the midst of uncertainty, joy in the midst of trials.”
And then, We can respond just as the teenage Mary did,
