When We Can't, God Can

Campbell Catherine

Description

Few of us are superheroes. Most of us are plain ordinary. In spite of this fact God continues to throw the impossible in our direction and, invariably, we shout back 'I can't!' Yet we discover this is the best background against which God can 'do immeasurably more than we can even ask or think' as the apostle Paul put it. 'When We Can't, God Can' sets side by side the stories of men and women from both the biblical narrative and today who said 'I can't', only to go on to accomplish great things for the God who declares his strength to be made perfect in weakness. Catherine's particular gift is to encourage, and to provide connections between the experience of biblical characters and life today.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Lion Hudson
• Date de parution: 17 juillet 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780857216137
• Langue: English

Extrait

Catherine Campbell has done it again - given us a book packed with encouraging insights as we read her stories inspired by the Bible along with gripping real-life accounts. Drama, faith, hope and love - it s all here to build our faith in the God who can, and does.
Amy Boucher Pye, author of Finding Myself in Britain
Catherine Campbell weaves together stories from yesterday with portraits from today to show the inner workings of faith. She matches gripping, creative retellings of episodes from the Bible with deeply moving modern-day accounts of believers around the world. The result is a fresh and original reflection that puts flesh on the bones of belief.
Gerard Kelly, The Bless Network, author of The Prodigal Evangelical and The Boy Who Loved Rain
Catherine Campbell reminds us here of just how wonderfully the God of the impossible works in our weaknesses. Through beautifully vivid retellings of Bible stories alongside accounts of contemporary experiences, Catherine invites us to be encouraged in the face of our own challenges.
Pam Rhodes, broadcaster and author
Previous books by Catherine Campbell:
Under the Rainbow
God Knows Your Name
Broken Works Best
Rainbows for Rainy Days
When We Can t, God Can
Encounters with the God of the impossible
Catherine Campbell

Oxford UK, and Grand Rapids, USA
Text copyright 2015 Catherine Campbell This edition copyright 2015 Lion Hudson
The right of Catherine Campbell to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by Monarch Books an imprint of Lion Hudson plc Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England Email: [e-mail] www.lionhudson.com/monarch
ISBN 978 0 85721 612 0 e-ISBN 978 0 85721 613 7
First edition 2015
Acknowledgments Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised Copyright 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. All rights reserved. Anglicised edition first published in Great Britain 1979 by Hodder & Stoughton, an Hachette UK company. This revised and updated edition published 2011. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version . Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Cover image: oorka/iStockphoto.com
Dedicated to the memory of my parents-in-law, Sammy and Annie Campbell. Their encouragement and prayers left a mark of love on many of God s servants across the world, some of whom struggled daily with impossible situations. They are missed.
Contents

Preface
God is Able

When I Walk in Darkness

When the Task is Too Great

When Life Devastates

When Our Skills are Inadequate

When My Life is Not My Own

A Note from the Author
Preface

The young tour guide obviously enjoyed her job.
From the moment our group entered the site of the ancient ruins, she positively gushed with information. But then this was Ephesus. Who could remain dispassionate in this amazing place?
Ephesus was a Roman colony and gateway to Asia Minor from around 129 BC , she told us. By the first century AD it was a major centre of trade and politics, with an infrastructure second to none in its day.
Our group rewarded her knowledge with the requisite oohs and aahs , as the young woman explained the remnants of structures still standing and remarkably preserved, in spite of assault by natural disasters and invading armies.
Did you know that the residents of the upper city had central heating, and water taps? she asked.
We didn t, actually, and the evidence we were shown boggled the mind when there are people in our world, in this century, who have never even seen a water tap. The Romans were undoubtedly amazing engineers. Statues, amphitheatres, marble pillars, and the ruins of superbly designed buildings from centuries ago were mesmerizing.
Interestingly, although the city shone with grandeur, even today as an archaeological ruin, the lives of its former inhabitants did not. As the guide described widespread immoral behaviour, and disgusting sacrificial practices used in pagan worship, I suddenly realized why the apostle Paul wrote to the new Christians in the way that he did in his letter to the Ephesians.
Don t live any longer as the Gentiles do, he told them in Ephesians 4:17, and further commented that they were instead to live as children of the light (5:8). As I walked on the same streets that Paul did, and caught a little glimpse of everyday life in first-century Ephesus, the challenges faced by the Ephesian church became clearer, making it easier for me to understand from a twenty-first-century perspective.
Since writing God Knows Your Name and now When We Can t, God Can , I have discovered the importance of examining the biblical narrative in its contextual setting. Looking behind the scenes of the Bible, as it were, is not only fascinating but illuminating, helping us to understand the relevance of God s word both then and now. The social, cultural, political, and religious environment surrounding the individuals and nations that we read about in the Bible open wide a window for us to look through. By doing so we can discover not only how they lived, but how people interacted with each other, and with God. More importantly, looking behind the scenes expands our ability to see a little of God s heart in His dealings with mankind, and how we in the twenty-first century also fit into His big plan.
Essential to all this is, of course, the fact that the Bible is not merely a history book, from which we learn lessons. Rather, it is God s direct communication to mankind, applied to individual hearts by the power of His Holy Spirit. The Bible is therefore no ordinary book - its words bring life.
Unfortunately, I cannot visit everywhere that I write about. However, I am privileged to be able to study the many excellent resources available today to help you look behind the scenes with me. Some of the Bible characters you read about in When We Can t, God Can may be well known to you, while others are not. I do hope, however, that in my retelling of these wonderful stories you will see things in a new light - I know I have!
My desire throughout this book is for us to see the relevance of the Bible in each of our lives, whatever is going on in them at present. Also, running alongside is the enormous truth that the God of the impossible desires a relationship with each one of us. That is certainly the experience of the individuals from our generation whose life stories are paired with those of people from the Bible. Each one of them has personally proved that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20), and they have given me permission to share with you how that has happened when impossibility stared them in the face.
I am humbled by their trust, and blessed indeed to present a small part of their stories to you.
God is Able
When I Walk in Darkness


c. AD 32
The sudden cramping caught Anah off guard.
Her hands had slipped off the water jar for only a second, but it was long enough. Long enough for her to see the falling pot smash into smithereens as it hit the stones in front of her, a few seconds before she joined it in the dust. Like a swarm of bees, shards of razor-sharp clay sprayed an unsuspecting group of women chatting nearby, momentarily stunning them.
To the young woman on the ground the whole scene seemed to play out in slow motion. In spite of that, she could do nothing to stop the contents of the broken jar suddenly gushing over her head in a rush to find an escape route. In that moment Anah wished that the water had swept her into the pool and out of sight. Instead, a wave of embarrassment followed the drenching water and quickly flushed up over her wet cheeks. Her only consolation was that the water from the shattered pot would hide her tears, or so she hoped.
No, not here, please! Anah groaned, another wave of pain squeezing her abdomen as she attempted to get to her feet before any fuss could be made. But it was too late for that. Some of the pottery-sprayed women were already rushing to her rescue, leaving their own water pots balancing precariously as they moved to help the heavily pregnant woman up from the ground. Unfortunately, while picking their way through broken pottery and puddles, some of Anah s rescuers voiced an opinion on her current predicament.
Why did you fill such a large pot, in your condition? sniped one older lady.
It s much too heavy for you to carry through the city, someone observed.
Have you no daughters to help you? chided another.
Daughters! The word hit harder than a slap in the face.
Perhaps soon, she replied. The image of her last little baby flashed across her mind, while remaining invisible to the bunch of Job s comforters now crowded around her. It had been a little girl - with thick black curls and rosebud lips, but whose eyes had closed far too quickly in death, denying Anah the joy of bringing up another mother in Israel.
Perhaps soon, she whispered again, as hands reached down to raise her to her feet. The women fussed around her, when all Anah wanted to do was to hurry home before the next contraction arrived. Maybe it s a false alarm, she hoped, as she felt someone dry her face.
Thank you. Thank you, Anah said firmly, waving away any further interference. I need to get home. I I I m sorry to have startled you. I didn t mean to
As she turned to go, another tightening tugged at her, only this time it was accompanied