What Seems Impossible

“When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. They said to her, ‘You are out of your mind!’ But she kept insisting that it was so.” – Acts 12:13-15

The reports seemed absurd. It was 1849, and two German missionaries reported discoveries that many found impossible to believe.

Johann Krapf described seeing a mountain in East Africa (later called Mount Kenya) that was capped with snow! Around the same time, another missionary, Johannes Rebmann, discovered Mount Kilimanjaro, declaring that this mountain, too, was covered with snow.

As author Martin Dugard describes, the discoveries of these men were published in a church magazine. However, the Royal Geographical Society in London seriously doubted their findings. Why? These missionaries had described seeing snow on mountains in some of the hottest places on earth. To these brilliant minds thousands of miles away, the reports seemed clearly ridiculous.

Yet what seemed impossible to those scientists was, in fact, true. These mountains were capped with snow!

How easily we can be governed by what we think seems possible. We can confine our beliefs to what makes sense to our minds and is consistent with our experience. In the process, we can limit God and find ourselves filled with doubt rather than faith.

The early Church experienced something like this when Peter was imprisoned. They prayed fervently for his release. But when God answered their prayers and miraculously delivered Peter, they refused to believe that he had been released. In fact, when Rhoda told them Peter was at the door, they claimed she must have been out of her mind!

What seems impossible in your life? Ask God for His help. For healing. For provision. For answers. Have faith and don’t doubt. Remember that He is the God of miracles—not just in the past, but today!