Rarely are we in this kind of life-threatening danger. But if we’re honest, a lot of us find ourselves in seemingly impossible situations all the time.

This child just doesn’t understand potty-training.

That child just doesn’t “get” how to drive.

This marriage seems impossible.

The bills, the job, the health crisis, taking care of mom or dad…

God glories in impossible situations, because our impossibles are completely possible to him. He urges us to “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (Psalm 50:15).

Moses knew he wouldn’t be able to lead the children of Israel. But God could lead the children of Israel through Moses (the book of Exodus). Gideon couldn’t defeat the vast Midianite and Amalekite armies. But God could and did defeat the armies while Gideon and his 300 soldiers watched (Judges 6-7). Joshua didn’t chisel the walls of Jericho until they fell. He led the people around the walls, and God toppled the walls, and they became piles of rubble (Joshua 5-6).

We don’t have to lose sleep or wonder how things will fall into place. We can place our heartaches and struggles in God’s capable arms and step out in faith while he brings everything together.

Sometimes that takes a long time. The path of the Christian is one of faithful obedience in the waiting seasons, even when those seasons tarry.

Abraham continued to worship and obey while waiting 25 years for a son (Genesis 12-21). Daniel faithfully carried out his duties with impeccable morality while serving heathen rulers his entire adult life (the book of Daniel). Hannah knew her only hope was God. And she went to him again, even after suffering for years with infertility and the taunting of her husband’s other wife (1 Samuel 1).

The Canaanite woman didn’t cry out just once for Jesus to heal her daughter. She kept crying out, until the disciples wanted to send her away. Only then did Jesus tell her he was sent to the people of Israel. Still, she knelt before Jesus and begged for help. And when Jesus said it wasn’t right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs, she asked for just a crumb—and her daughter was healed (Matthew 15:21-28).

Do not give up on your impossible situations, and do not give up on your prayers. Many great men and women in the Bible found themselves stuck, and for many, deliverance didn’t come at once.

Paul Kretzmann, in his Popular Commentary of the Bible, said, “Even if all experience of man is against a Christian in his prayer, he trusts in the merciful Father for help and, in child-like faith, brings his petition before the throne of God again and again.”¹