THE PREVIOUSLY IMPOSSIBLE
Imagine if a consultant offered this guarantee:
Call anytime and I will answer. I will show you wondrous things you could never figure out on your own and reveal remarkable secrets of what’s yet to come. I can make the previously impossible…possible.
Unfortunately, no industry expert or class can deliver on that promise. But God makes this claim – and He is more than able to deliver. Listen to His offer:
“Call to me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3, NKJV). Another version puts it like this: “I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own” (The Message).
Perhaps you’re familiar with the first part of this verse. When you call out to God, He will answer. But it gets even better. Did you catch the second half? He will then show you “unsearchable things” and “remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.” (NIV; NLT).
No matter how gifted someone may be, there is zero possibility they will ever attain this level of creativity on their own. This is a promise only attainable with God.
But there is an implied condition. We can only experience these things with God. He makes it clear we won’t see or hear them in our own strength or apart from His presence.
Think of it this way. Imagine if God invited you on a road trip. It begins in an hour. It’s a custom adventure for the two of you. He knows a secret route that no one else travels. If you go, He will be your personal tour guide for all the wild and wondrous things along the way. New colors. New ideas. New worlds. You’ll need a new vocabulary to describe what you see.
But let’s say you decline the offer. After all, you’re on a deadline. Or you refuse to go anywhere without knowing all the details in advance. Perhaps you believe you can get there on your own.
God always gives you the choice. No matter the situation, you can either call out to God and He will show you infinite possibilities – or you can pursue the finite options you see with your limited vision and strength.
It’s freeing to realize everything isn’t all up to you. As I say in my book The Story of With: “God doesn’t need your help as much as He wants your heart. Whenever you start to focus more on your talents and gifts than on Him, you miss the main invitation. Which is to pursue them together. With Him.”
This version of “with” can feel disruptive, inconvenient, and like a loss of control. You begin to allow God the freedom to set the rhythm of your day. You look to God – not a word count or number of minutes – to know when your work is done. You seek God – not the world – for validation. You pursue God – not past formulas – for new ideas. Productivity is good. God’s presence, however, is the foundation. Everything else – including all external metrics of success – comes secondary to that.
When Moses was tasked with leading the people out of the desert, he made this bold statement to God (and I’m paraphrasing here): “If You aren’t going with me, let’s call this whole trip off” (Exodus 33:15). When was the last time you said those words to God about a project you were working on?
When the Creator of stars, stallions, and sunsets offers to reveal marvelous, great, unsearchable, and remarkable things, it should set our hearts racing.
Let God know you refuse to move forward without His active, intimate presence. Invite Him to show you marvelous things and remarkable options you’d never know on your own.
Doing so will infuse your heart – and your art – with an eternal spark that no conference or consultant can ever duplicate. God loves making the previously impossible possible.
All you have to do is ask.
