Are All Things Possible With God?
There is a Bible verse (Matt:19:26) that many, if not all Christians, like to refer to, wherein Jesus states that "with God all things are possible". People usually look for comfort in this verse when they are faced with some formidable situation in their life's path, such as inoperable brain cancer or something similarly impossible for mere man alone to deal with. I find this to be an especially curious practice, though, particularly for those Christians who adhere to the belief that God already knows their future. Imagining on one hand that their life is full of unlimited possibilities and opportunities, while at the same time believing that their exact future path is already known to God in every detail, is clearly illogical. If God already knows your exact future down to the minutest, second by second detail, then your future holds no real possibilities at all. It doesn't matter what you decide to do each day, because your choices are not real choices...you are only going to do what God already knows or sees you are going to do.
So, getting back to the verse mentioned above, if God already knows your future, then all things are really not possible with God. Only one thing would be possible, and that would be whatever God already supposedly knows will happen. I don't see how anyone can hold to that belief and not be depressed by it. The prophets throughout the Scriptures certainly did not see their future as something set in stone. In fact, their main function as prophets was to warn the people of Israel that while their daily choices and behaviors were leading them into God's judgment and painful consequences, if they only would repent and start making godly choices, God would begin to bless them again. Their future was not fixed at all as far as God was concerned. Take a look at what God told Moses to tell the Israelites after they had been wandering around the wilderness for 40 years...
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
15 "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,
16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them,
18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
We can see here that the future is not something already foreknown, but that we have rather been given the opportunity to fashion our own lives, one day at a time, into either a life that is blessed by God, or one that is lived in rebellion and judgment, forsaking the abundant life graciously offered to us. The very length of our lives can clearly depend on how we choose to live. All things are truly possible with God, but this can only be appreciated and experienced by those willing to believe. Let me just show you one more example of this truth, in a passage where the Lord tells the prophet Jeremiah to speak to the people.
Jeremiah 26:2-3
2 "Thus says the LORD: 'Stand in the court of the LORD's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD's house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not diminish a word.
3 Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may relent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings.' "
God is obviously hoping that maybe, just maybe, the people will repent after hearing how He intends to punish them if they don't change their ways. This and many other passages like it are incomprehensible if God already knows what they will choose. His plea for their repentance would not be genuine if that were the case. Thank God we have a Creator who has given us such great liberty, so that we can truly make our own choices, even the bad ones...and that He also is willing to grant us repentance after taking those wrong turns. Thank You Lord for the wondrous love, grace and mercy You pour out on all of us willing to receive it, and for the unlimited possibilities that the future holds for us!
-nOFuTuRe
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