Desperate Arms

 "and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”  John 11:26....."Rest in the reality that He knows no impossibility. And then pray," Alistair Begg

"Do you believe this?" It's a question that will be asked of every one who has trusted in the name of Jesus Christ for life and salvation. Often, it will be asked by the devil, in ridicule of His promise. "How can you believe this?" will be his mocking words. More often though, it will be the Lord Himself who asks this question of us, just as He did of Martha as they stood before the grave of Lazarus, right before He raised him from the dead. He asked her to believe the impossible. He will ask us to do the same, and more often than our flesh cares for.

I can remember many times when He's done so with me. One of the hardest times was during the first Christmas after my marriage and ministry had fallen apart. I had come home to be with family, and that was a good thing. But some real difficulties arose while there. The temperatures plunged to record lows, so much so that the engine of my old car seized and had to be replaced. What little money I had was taken in the replacement. As I prepared to leave early on the day of departure, before the sun had even risen, I sat in my mother's kitchen. All I could see and feel were impossibilities and reasons for despair piled on top of each other. I wanted it all to be over. I wanted Him to take me home and end all the pain. He wanted something else. He wanted me to trust Him and to believe Him. To trust and believe that this place was not where He would leave me. That no matter what I "saw" or felt, it was not what was truly real. He was. What He had promised me was. He gave no specifics, just that where I was wasn't going to be where I stayed. This was not where my end would be.

Chris Tiegreen wrote, "He responds to the spirit of desperate arms around His neck." Sometimes that's all we can offer Him. At that time, it was all I could give Him. It was also all that He wanted from me. Desperate arms around His neck that clung to Him with little more than a drop of hope and faith. For Him, a drop is always enough. In the place that I was then, and would come to be in again, He whispered through my pain, "Do you believe this? Do you believe Me?" I'd been preaching for 5 years about doing so. Now, in this place, would I? Will you? If you're on a true journey with Him, you'll come to the same place I did. You'll be asked to believe in the face of the impossibility, that He knows no impossibility. And then pray. All the while clinging with all your strength to Him. All your strength enhanced by His limitless grace. 

The fact that 34 years have now gone by since that dark winter morning tells you that He didn't leave me in that place or state. He kept His word, and all the impossibilities fell before the reality of His promise that nothing is impossible with Him. Now, maybe you're in such a place yourself. He asks you what He asked me and has asked countless others as well. "Do you believe Me?" Believe Him. His promise is true. His promise is real. He is real. More real than the impossibilities you face. Wrap your arms around Him and cling to Him. And behold the wonders He will work.

Blessings,
Pastor O