12 Things God Can't Do: ...and How They Can Help You Sleep at Night

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He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” ( 1 Peter 2:24). 2. God Does Not Fear

Have you ever felt like someone completely misunderstood what you did or said? God cannot misunderstand. He knows the deepest thoughts and intents of your heart. He knows your motives, and your desires. Looking at the list of contents, some aspects of what God can’t do seem more obviously comforting than others. It’s clearly good, for example, that Godcan’tchange or lie, as this means he is totally trustworthy. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” ( 1 John 4:18). 3. God Does Not Forsake His Children Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘ I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” ( Hebrews 13:5-6). Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you” ( Jeremiah 32:17). 1. God Does Not Fail

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In each of those cases, my inability to learn came from my limitations. But when we say that God can’t learn, it’s not for any of those reasons. The book is divided up into sections with interludes in between each of the five different sections dealing with a different part of God’s character and nature. The real masterstroke in this book is the application of Jesus' experience as a human within 'Interlude' chapters. These shine a light on the ways Jesus would've experienced the full gamut of human emotions, weakness and suffering as one of us. It's really fascinating stuff! A lot of the rest is the omni- attributes. Theology Proper is really an all-or-nothing kind of thing. In conclusion, this was a deeply enriching book that engages with some really deep theological questions about the character and nature of God is such an accessible and relatable way.

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” ( Romans 11:36).Let’s take a few minutes and uncover a few of the things God doesn’t or can’t do. And I’m so thankful He doesn’t. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1–2). [See Proverbs 15:29; Jeremiah 5:25; Ezekiel 18:4, 20; Ezekiel 39:23–24; Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; Galatians 6:7–8; and 1 John 3:4.] Aren’t you thankful that Jesus Christ came and paid your eternal death penalty for you, in your stead? 8. God cannot despise a broken and contrite heart. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). [See also Numbers 14:11; John 3:18 John 8:24; Hebrews 3:12, 18–19; Hebrews 11:1; and Revelation 21:12.] Aren’t you humbled that you can be counted worthy and be added to God’s faith “hall of fame” through Jesus Christ? 10. God’s church cannot be destroyed.

As the book goes through ways that God is not like us, it really ends up being a book about God's holiness. The chapters about God's other-ness are interspliced with short chapters about Jesus, who is himself this awesome God but is also fully human. WOW! But what about the fact that he can’t be seen, or be lonely? How can those truths enable us to “lie down and sleep in peace” (Psalm 4:8, NRSVA)? You’ll have to read the book to find out. Some of the chapters are heavier going than others (you might need to re-read ‘God can’t suffer’, for example). Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you” ( Deuteronomy 31:6).A lot of Theology Proper is negative*—God can't do this, He can't do that, He won't do another thing. This has been the case since the beginning and is still true today. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” ( Hebrews 4:14-16). But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart’” ( 1 Samuel 16:7). 5. God Does Not Make Mistakes

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” ( 2 Corinthians 5:21). To learn more about God and what your part can be in His plan for man, be sure to request our free booklets, Who, What Is God?, Is Jesus Really God? and Things To Do While Waiting For Jesus to Return . You’ll be amazed! Ω The book ends by explaining how God can’t die while also showcasing the mystery of the cross. We see how Jesus was tempted yet without sin, and this gives confidence to Christians as we pursue sanctification in our everyday life. And because God cannot disown himself, we can be sure that God will not abandon us – those who are in Christ. But I think it was under-applied (we didn’t get far beyond ‘this can help you sleep at night’ in most chapters). Often there were long, unsignposted digressions within chapters (to explain theological terms, or controversies) that I can see leaving people a little lost. It’s a little thing, but quotations from the fathers (and at points the Bible) were often a bit long for the amount of explanation given. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips” (Psalm 89:34). [Also see: Leviticus 26:44; Jeremiah 14:21; and Jeremiah 33:20–22.] Aren’t you grateful God has kept His promises in the past and will keep His promises concerning you, His saints, and His plan of salvation for all in the future? 4. God’s intent and power cannot be stopped.And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” ( Romans 8:28). I’m torn. I liked the scope of this book - it functions pretty well as a basic doctrine of God (though, thankfully, doesn’t describe itself that way). It links the doctrine of God to the incarnation really well via little ‘interludes’ that highlight the wonder of Jesus being like us, without trying to ‘smooth out’ the ways that might be seen to clash with the things we’ve seen about God in the main chapters. It’s wonderfully Christ-exalting, which is fab! Also notable was drawing on Church Fathers more than I’d expect from a book like this. We can sleep well at night, knowing that God will not slumber. We can trust His promises because He can't change or lie. And so on. Which makes this book one of the more rewarding reads I've come across lately. Let us be grateful and praise God for Who He is and What He is… a God of loving care, compassion, and forgiveness. Aren’t you glad our God has limited Himself in these ways? He has set us the example and opened the way before us to follow in His steps. It is because God cannot do these things that we can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). If no one has ever ruined that song for you before, then, I’m sorry—but it gets worse. We might be used to singing that there’s nothing that God cannot do and shouting, “That’s true”. Except, well... it’s not exactly true. And it’s good that it’s not true—because the God who can’t do things is much greater than the God who is genuinely capable of anything. But wait, isn’t God “all-powerful”?