Looking Into A Looking Glass

People are fascinated with the future. Some pay money to go see psychics or call them to get a reading for their future. Some look to astrologers to predict the future. Economists predict how the market will rise and fall. At best all of those are just educated guesses. People want to look into the looking glass to find out what will happen down the road. People sit around crystal balls hanging onto every word a so called expert says gazing into that lifeless ball.

One day an old man awoke. This day was just like every other day. There were chores to get done and livestock to look after. This man was devout. He started his days seeking God. Only this day would be different. He had an encounter with God.

You can read about that encounter in Genesis 15. God met Abraham in a vision. He spoke to him and peeled back time and space and revealed the future to His servant Abraham. He promised to make a great nation from Abraham. Only trouble is Abraham had no children. From his vantage point looking through the looking glass of God's revelation he could not see a way this would ever come true.

If you fast forward several chapters and several years in the book of Genesis and Abraham's life God appeared to Abraham and again pointed to a distant future where he would be the father of an entire nation. He promised Abraham and Sarah a son though they were both advanced in years. Well past child bearing years. Absolutely and positively impossible.

That did not limit God. At the appointed time Sarah conceived and gave birth to a bouncing baby boy named Isaac. From that small beginning God kept His covenant and build the nation of Israel.

I have meditated on God reveling these things to Abraham through that dream. He also established His covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15. To put that another way God made a contract and a promise with Abraham. What looked impossible God brought to pass. What seemed so far fetched God spoke into existence. He can do anything. Is anything too hard for Him? Is any burden so heavy He cannot lift it? Is any financial need so great He cannot provide to meet it? Is any health concern so grave He cannot heal it? Is any situation so hopeless He cannot turn it around? What looks impossible from our vantage point is very possible from His.

God let Abraham look into the looking glass of the future to see what God intended to do. I believe He still does that today. Whatever you are staring at in front of you causing you grief, if you could only see it how God sees it, you would have hope. Your impossible situations are not impossible with Him. Not at all.

I see three things staring at me. Impossible situations. Brenda's car as 315,000 miles on it. Our mechanic told us we needed to start looking for our next vehicle. Only I am not willing to go into debt. Tucker is only six weeks for leaving for college. We have prayed for God to provide him a car for two years like He did for Tucker's older brothers. Again I am not going into debt to make this happen. My truck has 232,000 miles on it. At some point that will need to be replaced. Three vehicles looks impossible from the human vantage point. I am not looking through those eyes. I am looking with eyes of faith as it were through a looking glass. We use Brenda's car and my truck for ministry. Each Sunday and Wednesday we drive close to eighty miles to minister the word of God and gladly do so. I also make this same trip several other times during the week. That is just the normal stuff. I believe God wills us to do this. I also believe God knows our needs and our desire to honor Him by not going into debt. Someday He will do what we have seen Him do before. He will provide. On there different occasions we saw God provide our family with what we consider to be miracle vehicles. He can do it again. As look through His looking glass I can see them in my driveway with deed paid in full.

He provided horses for Jonathan Edwards. He provided ship fare for George Whitfield, D.L. Moody and Hudson Taylor. He provided carriages for Charles Spurgeon. He provided vehicles for Leonard Ravenhill. He will provide for my family too. We look forward to the day we get to testify about His faithful provision.

I met with God in the pages of Genesis this morning. It did my soul good to read about God revealing the future and defying impossible circumstances. I trust He will do it again.  As you peer through the looking glass of God's word I hope you too will be encouraged. There are no hard, difficult or impossible situations with Him. Only opportunities for His demonstrate His power and glorify His name.