Unlikely Choice

“Possibility lies not in our likeliness but in our willingness.”
Loren Thornburg

The Sisters of St Joseph came to California with only 60 cents in their pockets. Those 60 cents have grown to care for the lives of millions of people each year through their many hospitals and health care services throughout the United States. In the early 1900s no one, probably not even the sisters, would have predicted that they would be the ones that would one day be responsible for the coming of today’s facilities that service and save the lives of millions. They may not have had the money or the resources to do such a thing, but what they did have was a heart to help and a willingness to let what they did have be enough. So often we make excuses for why we aren’t on our way towards our dreams. We tell ourselves we don’t have enough money, time, capabilities, or resources. Yet, the Sisters had only 60 cents! They were certainly not the likely choice for such a great endeavor. The unlikely can become likely when we start looking at that which we do have and reasons it could be possible.

“‘Who makes mouths?’ The Lord asked him. Who makes people so they can speak or not speak, hear or not hear, see or not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and do as I have told you. I will help you speak well, and I will tell you what to say.’”
Exodus 4:11-12 NLT

God is a god of the unlikely. Over and over throughout the bible we see time and time again that he calls the unlikely to do the unlikely. Our faith is founded on the power of the unlikely of Jesus; baby yet king, carpenter yet leader, executed yet savior. God loves to show up in the unlikely that we would have nothing to credit but Him. In Exodus we see the unlikely Moses called to lead the people out of Egypt. Moses, who after killing a man fled into exile where he tended sheep for forty years. So you can imagine his shock when God asks him to lead millions of people out of slavery and misery. He does as many of us would do and have done in that we look for reasons it can’t be us, because it seems unlikely and we see all the reasons it doesn’t make sense. Yet, God’s ways our not ours! He does not think like us and thus His ways do not make sense to us. Thankfully, His power does not lie in our understanding! He is the one who made us and has all power to do and accomplish His ways and His plans. So who are we to tell Him how He should do or who He should use? Let us stop looking at all the reasons not to and start looking to the One reason that far outweighs them all…the Lord. When we know who He is and that He is with us, we need look at nothing else.