When alleluia seems impossible.
1 Samuel 6:1-16 

“Can I tell you a secret Pastor Sara?”  She asked, with a smile beaming across her face.  I, of course, was more than happy to hear what it was that could produce such joy.

It was a good secret.  It was the kind of news that made me step back and reflect with certainty on this one fact: with God, nothing is impossible.  Her worry, her pain, her losses, had been turned into joy, into preparation, into faith.

This is my favorite kind of story, when the impossible becomes reality, and that reality simply laughs with joy in the face of the enemies of God.  

Here there is strength.

Here there is a deepening of faith.

Here is a living alleluia.

That is the story from today’s reading, 1 Samuel 6.  The enemies of God have stolen the Ark of the Covenant, one of the most valuable possessions of the Israelites.  When they are finally strong-armed into returning it, they set up a super-duper-mega-impossible scenario, and then just sort of stand back dumbfounded watching God make it all happen.  When the impossible becomes reality, even these enemies of God are in awe of God’s power.

When all seems impossible, even hopeless, God is already at work.  Alleluia!

We see it again and again throughout the Bible.  God uses Gideon and his 300 men to defeat the Midianite army a thousand times bigger than them (Judges 7).  God returns the exiles in Babylon to their homeland (Isaiah 40).  God raises Jesus from the dead (Luke 24).

When the young Mary finds out the impossible is happening in her life, she makes one of the greatest proclamations in the Bible –“37 For nothing is impossible with God.”  (Luke 1:37)

Perhaps I teased you into reading through this whole devotion thinking you’d find out my friend’s secret.  Sorry, that secret isn’t mine to tell.  I know though, that when she is ready, she’s going to be shouting it out for everyone to know that God has made her impossible thing a reality.  Perhaps the better question is – what’s your secret of the impossible made possible in God’s hands?  Have you seen an impossible alleluia?

Questions for Reflection

• What has God done in your life that you didn’t believe possible?
• How has your faith been deepened, or your trust in him been strengthened?

Prayer

Lord God, give me eyes to see where you are already at work.  Give me patience and strength to wait for you to work the impossible in my life.  Amen.