"The Womb of Impossibility"
When something - or somebody - seems impossible, God's greatest involvement and working may be at hand. Indeed, our Heavenly Father brought forth His Son in a womb where no chance of conception seemed to exist.
"A virgin shall conceive...With God nothing shall be impossible" (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:37).
Regarding the impossible, the Apostle Paul also comes to mind. Had there been one human being to write off regarding the possibility of conversion during the early days of the church, Saul of Tarsus would have been the man. This "Hebrew of the Hebrews" joined most of his Jewish brethren in dismissing the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel (Philippians 3:5). "He came unto His own and His own received Him not" wrote the Apostle John of God's earthly nation (John 1:11). Saul served as a primary leader of a wayward people, beginning with his consenting to the stoning of the church's first martyr Stephen. This initiated an unholy persecution of believers by Saul, whose actions described by Luke paint a dark and savage picture of virulent hatred. "As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison" (Acts 8:1; 3). As Paul himself later confessed, "When they were put to death, I gave my voice against them" (Acts 26:10).
We know the rest of the story, of course. God interrupted Saul's downward flight on the road to Damascus, first converting Saul, and then commissioning him to go forth as the Lord's chief emissary and writer of the New Testament epistles. The Apostle Paul was born in the womb of impossibility, so much so that his reputation followed him decades later, leading Christians to hold Paul in suspicion and distrust (I Corinthians 9:1-3). Again, the one man of his era that all would have counted as beyond hope became the one man of eternity who most proclaimed the "Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope" (I Timothy 1:1). Impossible? Saul of Tarsus. Unless, of course, the God with whom "nothing shall be impossible" births the Apostle Paul in a human heart redeemable only by the Divine intervention of grace and truth in the Lord Jesus. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17).
What or who seems impossible to us? We do well to remember Saul's story, or better yet, our own experience of redemption in the Lord Jesus. Indeed, every believer must bear the attitude that if Christ could "save a wretch like me," surely all others must be potential candidates for the grace of God. Moreover, when circumstances, situations, and conditions seem beyond repair or redemption, the remembrance of "nothing shall be impossible" must cause us to lift up our eyes to behold the Light that "shineth in darkness" (John 1:5). Our Heavenly Father does His best work in things and in people seemingly bereft of hope. His glory shines all the brighter as the Lord reveals His wondrous capability in virgin wombs and virulent hearts…
"With God, all things are possible."
(Mark 10:27)
Weekly Memory Verse
But God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:8)
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