![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Impossible-Odds-1440x1440.jpg\")
\nNo matter the obstacles we face in life we need to always remember that we serve a God that does the impossible and is capable of carrying us to the finish line in one piece.<\/p>\n
Impossible Odds
\n1st February 2024; 12:50, London<\/p>\n
Have you ever been through a situation where you\u2019re faced with impossible odds? I have, and it has oftentimes felt extremely crippling. It\u2019s partly because I am a person who is highly analytical, and loves understanding how everything fits. As you can imagine with such a mind, situations where the odds seem quite frankly, impossible, make me extremely uncomfortable. However, we must all pass through these waters if we are to truly know God. It\u2019s a harsh reality, but I\u2019ve come to see that from the bible people came to know God after they were faced with the impossible.<\/p>\n
As I enjoyed the peace of bible study this morning, I was reflecting on the story of Elijah. How does one man – literally a single human being – decide that he is going to have a showdown with four hundred and fifty (yes, you read correctly 4-5-0) men? 1 vs. 450. Those are impossible odds. He might have well have written his will and waved goodbye to his family. Let\u2019s get into the details of the story shall we? We can start from here:<\/p>\n
\u201dNow therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel\u2019s table.\u201d\u201c
\nI Kings 18:19 NKJV<\/p>\n
To make matters worse, he did so with everyone watching. What level of audacity did this man have? Fair enough if you call for a showdown but wouldn\u2019t the logical thing be to do it quietly where there are no prying eyes? Nope, not in Elijah\u2019s world. He called for all the children of Israel to watch and see.<\/p>\n
\u201dSo Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. Then Elijah said to the people, \u201cI alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal\u2019s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.\u201c
\nI Kings 18:20, 22 NKJV<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s go even further and see what else he did. Before Elijah had gotten his victory, he chose to mock the other \u201cprophets\u201d in the presence of watching eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201dAnd so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, \u201cCry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.\u201d\u201c
\nI Kings 18:27 NKJV<\/p>\n
Why on earth will he do that? Surely he should have just kept quiet and prayed viciously under his breath. Secretly whispering to God \u201cplease, don\u2019t shame me!\u201d \u201cFather, please show up because all these people are here and they are watching!\u201d Surely, isn\u2019t that would be the logical thing to do? It would be perfectly normal – even acceptable – to do that yet, he did the exact opposite.<\/p>\n
After mocking them, it\u2019s now his turn. Now is the time to show that he knows the real God. He had gathered watching eyes, mocked the other prophets, well he better perform or he\u2019s toast. So as I read, I noticed that Elijah builds an altar and does something I find quite frankly, mad. Let\u2019s see the scripture to uncover what I\u2019m referring to:<\/p>\n
\u201dThen Elijah said to all the people, \u201cCome near to me.\u201d So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, \u201cFill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.\u201d Then he said, \u201cDo it a second time,\u201d and they did it a second time; and he said, \u201cDo it a third time,\u201d and they did it a third time.\u201c
\nI Kings 18:30, 32-34 NKJV<\/p>\n
Why did he ask them to pour water on the sacrifice and on the wood three times? If you thought the odds were impossible initially, I wonder what you\u2019re thinking now. It\u2019s almost as though he does this final step to ensure that people know that yes, what is about to happen is impossible. Water can\u2019t catch fire. Wood soaked in water can\u2019t catch fire either. All of these things are impossible but with God, nothing is impossible.<\/p>\n
\nNo matter the obstacles we face in life we need to always remember that we serve a God that does the impossible and is capable of carrying us to the finish line in one piece.<\/p>\n
I mean Elijah pretty much started off with drama so it makes sense to end with a bang right? And in true Elijah fashion, he ended with one indeed. He lifts up his eyes and he prays boldly.<\/p>\n
\u201dAnd it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, \u201cLord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.\u201d\u201c
\nI Kings 18:36-37 NKJV<\/p>\n
What I love about Elijah\u2019s prayer was the simplicity of his words. He didn\u2019t say anything complicated but rather spoke with faith and authority. He also made it publicly known why he had gone through the previous steps:<\/p>\n
1) stand alone with impossible odds i.e. 1 man vs 450 prophets
\n2) called for watchful eyes before securing his victory
\n3) poured water over the sacrifice and wood<\/p>\n
He wanted it to be indisputable that it was God that did the miracle so that they may believe in Him. Elijah understood a key principle: our lives are used by God to turn the hearts of the lost back to him and God uses those who are willing and ready to step out in faith with him.<\/p>\n
So what happens next? Victory! A spectacular victory!<\/p>\n
\u201dThen the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, \u201cThe Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!\u201d\u201c
\nI Kings 18:38-39 NKJV<\/p>\n
As I read the story of Elijah I took a long and deep breath. I have faced impossible odds left and right and somehow I\u2019ve managed to keep swimming. Sometimes it\u2019s easy to think God is sitting in heaven watching a movie and ignoring us as we face challenges in life. However, such a thought points that we don\u2019t fully understand God\u2019s character. He never laughs at us nor forsakes us.<\/p>\n
When we go through impossible situations or times when it seems like the odds are stacked against us, it could be a time where God is eager to reveal Himself to you. When we do things by ourselves there\u2019s very little room for God to show us who He is in a grand and spectacular way. It\u2019s when we run out of options, back up plans, and people to turn to, that it becomes the perfect breeding ground for divine revelation.<\/p>\n
You know what warmed my heart the most? The line which says \u201cthat You are God in Israel and I am Your servant.\u201d The truth is, whenever God does a phenomenal miracle in someone\u2019s life, it not only brings God glory, His glory also follows the individual He did the miracle through. We see this also happen in the life of Moses. Why did God tell him to stretch out his hand? Surely God could have done it all by himself. Yet, He chose to tell Moses to stretch out his hand so that the children of Israel will know that Moses was called by God and he had the backing of the Almighty.<\/p>\n
So what can we glean from this story?<\/p>\n
1) when faced with impossible odds it is a time for God to reveal himself to us in a spectacular way
\n2) our lives are used by God to turn the hearts of the lost back to him
\n3) when the breakthrough comes God also covers us with His glory so that people may know that He is with us<\/p>\n
I know it\u2019s not easy! 1 to 450 surely does sound mad. But whether it\u2019s 1 to 1,000,000 or even more, any opportunity to know God in a more real and intimate way is a gift. Stay strong, and remember it will all end in praise. It will be worth it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Impossible Odds 1st February 2024; 12:50, London Have you ever been through a situation where you\u2019re faced with impossible odds? I have, and it has oftentimes felt extremely crippling. It\u2019s partly because I am a person who is highly analytical, and loves understanding how everything fits. As you can imagine with such a mind, situations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perspectsees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2594,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592\/revisions\/2594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}