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

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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. Before I lay my head on my pillow each night, I’m faced with the reality of my sin nature. Failure is a part of humanity. It comes into this world with each of us. But God doesn’t sin. His holiness is what makes Him God. Without sin, He holds the power to forgive sin, to cover sin, to uncover sin, to reveal, convict, and pardon all sin. 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 Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (also see Jeremiah 31:3; Deuteronomy 7:7–9; Psalm 103:17; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:3–6; and 1 John 4:19.) Aren’t you thankful that God loves you enough to give His only-begotten Son for you? Which is really a way of saying that some sorts of ability are really just weaknesses. To be unable to do wrong is a strength even if it is expressed as an inability. Why it’s good news that there are things that God can’t do

Finally, in the last two sections, we look at the fact that God cannot be tempted, He cannot lie and God can’t disown Himself. 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. 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 FailI’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. But, just where you're thinking, "How, then, can this God who can't do so much possibly understand me, who can do all of the above far too easily?" – well, then, that brings us on to the sheer joy and necessity of the incarnation in Jesus. So, we have the glorious contradiction of a God who can't do all these things, but very much has done so, nonetheless. God will not leave you to figure out life on your own. He walks with His children and loves them. So if you are in Christ, you have the promise of living with Him day by day. You have access to Him at all times. And He will never ever leave you or walk out.

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). Secondly, we then look at the transcendence of God - who is invisible and above all things which means that He cannot be seen and the perfect holiness of God, who cannot bear to look upon sin. 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! all His commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness” (Psalm 111:7–8). [Match Psalm 119:160; Matthew 5:17–18; Luke 16:17; Luke 21:33; Romans 3:31; and Hebrews 13:8.] Aren’t you relieved that God’s physical as well as His spiritual laws cannot be altered or done away? 7. God cannot stand sin. For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6). [To verify, compare Psalm 90:2,4; Psalm 102:27; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17; and Revelation 1:8.] God is absolutely committed and resolute about His plan for man. Aren’t you grateful that God does not change your world randomly or change His mind about your calling and salvation? 3. God cannot break a promise.

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For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” ( Romans 11:36). 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). 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!

In the words of the old children’s song “My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing that my God cannot do.” Except that a deeper look into the deeper things of God will reveal that there are in fact some things that God cannot do and they are tied into the nature and character of God.Your Bible says that “with God, all things are possible.” And yet, there are some things God cannot do. Do you know what they are… and how they affect you? by Lloyd W. Cary A lot of the rest is the omni- attributes. Theology Proper is really an all-or-nothing kind of thing.

There is much to enjoy in this book. The author brings fresh insight into the nature of God by examining aspects of his perfect character that cannot be true. For instance God can't learn or be surprised (he already knows everything) and he can't be lonely (he exists in perfect trinitarian relationship). 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 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.

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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”? and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come” (Revelation 4:8). [Compare Psalm 30:12; Psalm 41:13; Psalm 99:3,9; Psalm 103; 1 Timothy 1:17; and Hebrews 13:15.] Aren’t you awed that we have such a perfect, Almighty, and loving God that is worthy of such praise? 12. And finally, God cannot stop loving you.