“I am not able”……..but …..“He is able”

The elderly lady was waiting in the admissions corridor of the A & E Department – the pain of the heart attack was intense and the words escaped her lips  “I am not able“.

In the Old Testament, the loss of his family and his dire physical ailments causes Job to lament “Perish the day I was born”.¹ Moses – committed to the all consuming role of leadership  of the Israelites in the Exodus from Egypt – encountering sustained    murmurings and the complaints – cries out to God “ I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me”. ²

David in the Psalms realising his responsibility for sins that have marked his life, describes the guilt that he feels “as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me… mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up“. ³

“I am not able” is a confession of human weakness, it is acknowledgement that we have sinned and have need of forgiveness. It is a realisation that in life’s journey we need day by day strengthening

There is an answer to this universal human need. Isaiah predicted it as he wrote of the coming of Christ   “Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”.⁴  At the Cross  “He bore our sins in His body on theTree” ⁵ – and because of that, our sins may be forgiven.

We read  “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him” ⁶ and “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”⁷

He is able” implies that He has tremendous power-which He can impart to those who trust Him – so that we are enabled to live a life- in which right desires and actions prevail . Again, we read “He is able to help those who are being tempted”. ⁸ Asking Him to become Lord of our lives brings untold blessings to us.

For the present, we are linked with “Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us”. ⁹

As we look ahead in life towards an eternal future, it is to be with “Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” .¹⁰

¹Job 3²; ²Num 11¹⁴;  ³Psa 40¹²; ⁴Isa 53⁴; ⁵1Pet 2²⁴; ⁶Heb 7²⁵; ⁷John 3¹⁶;

⁸Heb 2¹⁸; ⁹Eph 3²⁰; ¹⁰Jude 24