2020 On the Flip Side

There’s two sides to every coin. Just because the coin lands on heads doesn’t mean tails no longer exists. They’re both there. They co-exist together, heads and tails. God sees your situation much like a coin. There are two sides to it. The two sides co-exist together. Now, he’s asking you to see the two sides and trust him with the flip. Hold on to that, because we’re coming back to it. An ah-ha moment is just a few minutes away! Know there are the two sides and trust him with the flip. We’ve been studying the story of Abram and Sarai, the old couple never able to have children. For 25 years, Abram has waited for God to fulfill his promise of future descendants. In Genesis chapter 17, God gives them each a new name. Abram becomes Abraham, which means the father of many nations. And for Sarai, she becomes Sarah, which means “mother of nations.” Now, with new names given by God at the age of 100 for Abraham, and 90 for Sarah, they are visited by 3 men. And what they didn’t know at the time was, these 3 men weren’t just strangers wandering through their town, it was the Lord and 2 angels. Genesis 18, starting in verse 10: “One of them said, ‘I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!’ Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. So she laughed silently to herself and said, ‘How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my husband is also so old?’ Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.'” Hmmmm, did you catch that? Verse 14, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” The Hebrew word used here for ‘hard’ is hă-yip-pā-lê. Is anything too hă-yip-pā-lê for the Lord? Too hard. Maybe you’re facing a situation right now that seems too hă-yip-pā-lê. Instead of getting better, it’s getting worse. It’s too far gone, too broken, and too late. Too hă-yip-pā-lê. Too hard. But this word, hă-yip-pā-lê, too hard, has another meaning. We find this same Hebrew word in Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Your works are hă-yip-pā-lê, I know that full well. hă-yip-pā-lê means too hard on one side of the coin, but on the other side it means wonderful! Same word, same coin, both are true. If it’s too hard, on the other side of it is something wonderful! Abraham and Sarah having a baby at their age with her old womb was too hard … and it was wonderful! God flipped that coin and gave them a wonderful miracle. Let me tell you, God can do that! Whatever hă-yip-pā-lê you’re facing at the moment is too hard for you alone, but on the other side of it is something absolutely wonderful. When you’re on the side of the coin that is too hard, know this – When you’re not okay, God is still good. God is good even if your heart hurts, even if your whole world seems to be breaking. God’s goodness doesn’t depend on your situation. You can continue trusting him despite your circumstance. He is still good even when life is not. Wonderful is on the other side of this, and God can flip it at any moment. hă-yip-pā-lê too hard – hă-yip-pā-lê wonderful. God is the God of both sides of that coin. There’s a saying I love that says: I asked God, “Why are you taking me through troubled water?” He replied, “Because your enemies can’t swim.” Your enemy can’t survive the part of this that’s too hard. Your pride can’t swim in those trouble waters. Pride drowns in this hardship. Your self-sufficiency will be found insufficient, and it will be left in these troubled waters. Your plans can’t swim. They’re dropping to the bottom. Your money doesn’t save you and your good looks won’t help you in these waters. The story you tell and the fake facade you’ve built around you are washed away here. These are all your enemies. The things you’ve battled from within. And God takes you through this troubled water because your enemies can’t swim. It’s too hard hă-yip-pā-lê here in this troubled water by design. What’s the design? So you can walk out of this trouble free of everything that has been holding you back, everything that has been eating at you from the inside, and you can experience God’s hă-yip-pā-lê, his wonderful! You don’t have to hate the hard seasons, on the other side is something wonderful. Abraham and Sarah had experienced the hard side of the coin for years and years and years. And now, here’s God telling them, a year from now, I’m coming back to visit you and Sarah will have a son! This coin is flipping, and on the other side of what has been too hard for all this time, is something wonderful. Let me tell you what happened 3 chapters later. Genesis 21: 1-2, “The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age.” The coin had flipped. Same coin, just a different side. What had been too hard became absolutely wonderful. And it was more wonderful because it had been too hard for so long. I have a few coins in my life that seem a little too hard right now. But I know on the other side of them is something wonderful. So you know what, I won’t hate them, I won’t waste them, I won’t allow them to make me miserable. I will treasure them knowing the time will come for them to flip! I also know this, I hold a few flipped coins already. Things that were once too hard, but now God has flipped them and made them wonderful. I’m the girl who was left unable to walk or talk after a massive brain stem stroke. The odds of fatality for that type of stroke are 70-80%. And if you survive, you’re left forever changed. Against all odds, I survived what was too hard. And I am forever changed! I simply can’t look at a new day of life the same, and I can’t waste it! I’m living on the wonderful side of that coin. God flipped it! Look at your coins today. Aren’t you already on the other side of things that were once too hard, and against all odds, God has made them wonderful? Give him praise! Look what he has done! And for those coins in your life that are still on the “too hard” side of hă-yip-pā-lê, remember there’s another side. There’s a wonderful on the flip side. Just like there’s a heads and a tails on the same coin, there’s a too hard and a wonderful in your life. You can trust God with both. Open your hand, surrender your timeline, and let God take this situation. When God enters the scene, miracles happen. And my sister, he has promised to enter your scene! Too hard and wonderful – know there are two sides and trust God with the flip. 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