God and Impossible Situations
Part One
As the Pittsburgh Penguins made their quest this spring to advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in three years, they found themselves a couple of weeks ago down three games to nothing to their mortal enemies, the Philadelphia Flyers.
It was at that time that former Penguin player Jeff Carter contacted the team, and reminded them of a similar situation when he was with the Los Angeles Kings.
His team back then, like the Pens this spring, was in the first round of the playoffs, and also lost their first three games to the San Jose Sharks. Considering that up until that point, only three times in 72 years had a team come back from that deficit to win a series, it seemed to many LA Kings fans that theirs was an impossible situation.
Now I know that in the grand scheme of things, when you think of this message title and what you might be dealing with in your life, what takes place in a hockey rink with highly-paid, professional athletes, might seem insignificant. But I illustrate this to share that we all at one point in our lives may face what looks like an impossible situation.
In your life it could be a diagnosis, for you or someone you love. It could be a job situation where the boss seems like he is out to get you and there doesn’t appear to be anything you can do about it. Or it could be a friendship or other relationship that has gone sour and it doesn’t seem it can be salvaged.
These circumstances are one of the big sources of fear, as I conclude this series of messages I am putting under the banner of Fearless. In this series, we’re using the names of God, really the characteristics of God found in the Bible, to show how He impacts the challenges you and I might face in life.
Where you hear another name for God is when God appeared to the man Abram. Talking about names, it’s an interesting thing about the name Abram. In the Hebrew, it means father of many. At time, this was the most ironic name in the world, because Abram and his wife Sarai were childless.
One of my favorite Bible scholars, James Montgomery Boice, shared what this must have been like for Abram. He was a wealthy landowner, so as traveling merchants came through area, they likely stopped at Abram’s wells. And probably, they talked to him.
“How long have you lived here? What is your name?”
And he give the name Abram, father of many, and merchants likely asked, “Oh, how many kids do you have?”
“None.”
You could imagine how merchants must have laughed behind his back: “Let’s go see the father of many again on this trip; you know, the childless guy!”
And then to top it all off, God called upon Abram, in Genesis chapter 12 and said to him:
“Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” — Genesis 12:1-2 (NIV)
He was 75 years old at that point! And Sarai was 66! That womb was closed. But then there is our key verse for this week, in which God doubled down, and when He doubled down He changed Abram’s name, and revealed another name for God Himself:
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.” — Genesis 17:1-6 (NIV)
So Abram’s name was changed thusly:
Abram = father of many. Abraham = father of many nations.
Imagine what the talk would be at that point:
“Hey father of nations, how many kings did your wife give birth to today?!”
But if you know the historical account, God kept His promise. Abraham and his wife whose name was changed to Sarah, gave birth to Isaac, who had grandson for them named Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel. And Israel became the vehicle for Jesus to come to earth, and give birth, so to speak, to millions and millions of Christians from every tribe, tongue and yes, nation on earth.
And name God used for Himself in verse one, translated in English as :
God Almighty = El Shaddai.
El is generic in the ancient Middle East for the name of any deity, which the One True God assigned to Himself in this case. And Shaddai, well, through that name it’s my prayer that you and I are going to see what God can do with impossible situations in your life.
This week, no matter what impossible situation you might be facing, I pray you’ll take to heart three important truths revealed by the various nuances of meaning for the name El Shaddai. We’ll look at the first important truth in part one, and follow with two more important truths on Thursday. So here’s the first:
1. God is loving enough to provide for you.
Here’s what I mean:
One aspect of the meaning of El Shaddai is that God is all sufficient. He sustains, nourishes and provides for you physically.
When the nation of Israel consisted of Jacob (renamed Israel), his twelve sons and their families, God used name El Shaddai and said to Jacob:
“I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body.” — Genesis 35:11 (NIV)
It was same thing He said to Jacob’s grandpa, Abraham. But in Jacob’s adulthood, in that time of famine, when the fledgling nation of Israel was in danger of dying out, God gave provision, keeping the family alive before they became a nation.
He even used bad situation — Jacob’s sons selling his young son Joseph into slavery to make it happen. For after many years, Joseph became second in command of all Egypt, and saved the family from famine, even giving them a region of Egypt to live in so they could grow and become a great nation.
But it’s not just nations. Jesus, God come down earth, wants you to know He also provides for you individually. He said in Matthew 6:
“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” — Matthew 6:26 (NRSV)
Jesus also said this in Matthew 10:
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” — Matthew 10:29-31 (NIV)
In my time in ministry, I have seen this in the lives of people I have loved and cared about.
I remember an Elder from one of those churches — my friend Dennis — had been in-between jobs for a long time, but God kept providing: landscaping work, his wife’s job, and somehow the bills got paid, and his two kids got to go to and graduate from Grove City College.
No matter what impossible situation you face — physical, financial, or emotional, God is loving enough to provide for you. It’s one nuance to the meaning of the word El Shaddai.
We will look at two more important truths, two more nuances to the meaning of the name El Shaddai in part two of this message.
Until then, go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”
In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”
If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.