God does his greatest work in the face of the impossible. Show me your impossible and I’ll show you the area of your life primed for God’s intervention. Are you ready for God to intervene? Are you ready for him to rescue you from your mess? This is what God wanted me to tell you today – IF YOU WILL BE FAITHFUL, GOD WILL RESCUE YOU. IT IS YOUR CONTINUED FAITH IN THE FACE OF DANGER, DISASTER AND DOUBTFUL THAT SUMMONS GOD’S GREATEST WORKS.
But here’s what we typically do in the face of danger, disaster and doubtful, we play pitiful. We replay the story over and over again in our head of how unfair life has been. We tell our sob story to everyone who will listen. We recount the ways it has gone wrong and plan for the ways it will continue to go wrong. And we begin believing that somehow this is all our almighty, powerful, relentless God has for us. That somehow you are unworthy of the miraculous in your own life, but you’ve seen it in the lives of others.
Where is there danger in your life? A serious threat to your family or your future. It’s a reality you’re too scared to even look at.
Where is there disaster in your life? A real mess you can’t quite see your way out of. A mess that only seems to be getting worse.
Where is it now doubtful in your life? All good reasoning and common sense says this isn’t going to end well. It’s too late. It’s too far gone. It’s just doubtful.
If you will be faithful in the face of your dangerous disaster … if you will be faithful when it all looks so doubtful … God will be pulled like a magnet to do his greatest work.
You remember the story of Daniel in the lion’s den, right? That was a dangerous disaster that looked mighty doubtful. This morning, let’s look closer at this story and remember God can be trusted, even when we feel everything has been lost. Even when we feel everyone is against us, God is for us. And our God is willing to pull off the impossible for us.
Daniel was a good man. He worked hard, he did a good job and he was liked by the King. Seems life should go grand for good ol’ Daniel. But how many of us know that’s not the way life always goes. Our success often attracts jealousy. And when people get jealous they do stupid stuff. Well let me tell you what stupid stuff these jealous people did. The other men working for the King hated how Daniel was favored. His success was a threat to them. And the fact that Daniel was so obedient to his God angered them. They noticed that 3 times a day Daniel would bow down and worship God and they would use this against him.
If you think for one minute you won’t come under attack if you’re doing everything right, think again sister. Haven’t you heard, new levels new devils? The better you get at living well, the bigger the attack to bring you down.
So these jealous men convince the King that he should decree anyone who bowed down and worshiped anyone other than the King himself should be thrown in a pit of lions. The King liked the sound of this and made this a new law. Daniel continued to stop 3 times every day and worship his God. He continued to be faithful.
Now you think this wasn’t hard for him? You think there wasn’t some internal conflict over the right thing and the easier thing? Of course there was. And there will be for us too. Will you keep doing the right thing when the wrong people are watching? And if you do, what will happen to you?
So Daniel was caught breaking the law and thrown into the pit with lions. Understand this, the King liked Daniel, he didn’t want to do this to him, but his law was clear. In Daniel 6:16 the King said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”
And you likely know how the story goes. God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. Daniel was in a scary dangerous place and it was doubtful he would survive the night, but he was not harmed.
You may be in scary, dangerous place right now. Your future may seem doubtful. You may have found out this week that you no longer have a job. That’s a scary dangerous place. You may have gotten a diagnosis from the doctor that has shaken you to your core. That’s a scary dangerous place. Your marriage may be hanging by a thread, you may be surrounded by messes and chaos, indeed a scary dangerous place. It may be looking doubtful. But this is where God does his greatest work. This is where God shuts the mouths of the lions that should tear you up. This is where God provides peace that doesn’t make any sense. This is where God makes a way where there doesn’t seem to be a way.
May your God whom you serve continually rescue you. And he will. Don’t you know he will do the impossible for you? Attacks will come. Bad news will come. Good plans will fall apart. Bad days will happen. Lions will circle you. And God will be there. He will be there for you personally. He will rescue you. You can trust him.
What you have today in your dangerous, doubtful disaster is the perfect recipe for God’s greatest work. Keep being faithful. Even when it doesn’t make sense. Even when it seems to be getting worse. Remain faithful. God is working right now in your life in ways you can’t even imagine. He is kicking down those walls. He is moving those mountains. He is breaking those chains. He is opening those doors, and this time it will be the RIGHT doors. God is working on your behalf. He’s ready to show up and show off for you.
One final note, let me encourage you to remember rescuing doesn’t always look the way you imagined from where you stand. God’s ways are not our ways, his thoughts are high above our thoughts. In life there will be loss. There will be pain. There will be things that simply don’t make sense, but we only see part of the story. God sees it all, knows it all, and is working it all out for the ultimate good. I say this confidently as a girl who just lost someone I love most in this world. God can still be trusted.
“May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” And he will!