My June 7, 2023, The Cavalier Chronicle, carried a weekly homily, from the Revised Common Lectionary. Here is that homily on Page 7 of the paper, entitled Only Believe: "Abraham's faith in God grew as he gave glory to God, who had promised him the impossible. History is filled with God's victories over 'the impossible.' Are there impossibilities in your life? Start winning your victory by giving glory to God this week in church . . . 'he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God . . . Romans 4: 13-25.'"
My response: This homily is rich, powerful, and optimistic. One concept that I had never encountered before was the idea that Abraham's faith in God grew as he gave glory to God. That seems right to me. The more we give glory to God, the more we are vested in uniting our lives, behavior and plans with God's will and plans, the more we come to know God, believe in God and have faith in God, and Jesus.
Yes, history is filled with God's victories over the impossibilities that each of us face. Again, I accept that but Jesus, God, and the Good Spirits, are not promising a miracle or direct, divine intervention to be delivered for our every prayer, answered promptly and in accordance with what we desire, whether it is what we want or what we need, or what gives glory to God, or benefits the world or not.
Often, we are blessed and the impossible is made right by Jesus and God gratis, without hesitancy, a free gift to the beseecher. Not all impossibilities will be surmounted, and many may be resolved by the good deities in ways that do not make us pleased or may not pan out in ways that we are able to recognize as a blessing and prayer answered.
We need to be grateful, and a bit modest in our expectations, but it is so that God offers free, miraculous victories over some of the impossibilities that occur in our lives, and that is all that we can claim about this assertion. When, if and how such blessings are given remains open-ended.
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