The Test Of Impossibilities

The Test of Impossibilities

Read: John 6:5-13

“Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”

John 6:5

“We have a God who delights in impossibilities.”

—Andrew Murray

IN WORD Jesus asks Philip this probing question. It seems innocent enough, but there is a test in it. Jesus gives Philip an impossibility to consider. And Philip’s response indicates a mind-set with which we can all sympathize. We look at the situation, think of how to solve it in human terms, and lament about our lack of resources. There isn’t enough money. There isn’t enough time. There aren’t enough people. We have insufficient means.

We, like Philip, forget whom we are dealing with. The situation is never too big for Jesus. He is not bound by our resources. In fact, if we had sufficient means, He probably would choose to work with someone else. His power cannot be demonstrated among people with self-sufficiency. He is waiting for the Andrews of the world to come to Him with a pitifully limited supply and ask, full of doubt, “But how far will [this] go?” (v. 9). Having brought His people to the point of knowing their own poverty and limitations, He is ready to work.

IN DEED When has Jesus confronted you with an impossibility? When has He said, “What are you going to do with this situation?” As we look at the world around us, we can relate to Philip. There are hundreds of millions of hungry people in the world. There are diseases running rampant with no known (or available) cure. There are relationships breaking under the strain of secular patterns of behavior. And worst of all, there are people dying and going to hell, many of them never having heard the gospel. Like Philip, we might say we don’t have enough resources. Like Andrew, we might show Jesus what we have, knowing it is paltry.

Whatever our response, we must acknowledge our insufficiency. Then, and only then, can we look to the sufficiency of Jesus. He already has in mind what He is going to do (v. 6). He already knows how He will meet the need. He is waiting for us to acknowledge our limitations and trust Him.