GOD’S POWER IS EVIDENT IN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATIONS. 

SCRIPTURE | Joshua 10:1-15 

CENTRAL TRUTH 

None of our needs—or desires—are too big for Him to accomplish or too small for Him to care about. We must also remember that God is our perfect Father. Good fathers love their children; they care for them at all cost; and they would sacrifice their lives for them. God, our Father, sacrificed His Son for us! 

KEY QUESTION 

WHY DON’T WE BOLDLY GO TO GOD FOR THE THINGS WE NEED—OR EVEN WANT? WHAT DOES THIS REVEAL ABOUT OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GOD? 

KEEP IN MIND 

Students may sometimes feel like God doesn’t hear them. Maybe this is because they asked Him for something, and He didn’t answer the way they hoped He would. They can consider this example: Before His crucifixion, Jesus asked God for another way to save us. He asked God for the “cup,” or the crucifixion, to pass from Him. He knew how painful it would be. In fact, Jesus prayed three times for another way, but in the end, Jesus said, “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26:39). The cup didn’t pass from Him, but the Father wasn’t ignoring Jesus’s plea. It just meant God’s will was for Jesus to be crucified for our sin. When God doesn’t give our students what they ask for, it doesn’t mean He is ignoring them either. It often means He has other plans, and the best thing they can do is follow Jesus’s example by asking for His will above their own. 

APPLICATION 

DO YOUR WEAKNESSES OR DIFFICULT SITUATIONS PUSH YOU AWAY FROM THE LORD OR DRAW YOU CLOSER TO HIM? EXPLAIN. 

THE WIN 

FOR THE STUDENT: Our students’ weaknesses and difficult situations aren’t without purpose. God sees their struggles, and He doesn’t leave them alone in them. In fact, God often wants to use their struggles to display His power and strength. 

FOR THE LEADER: God can accomplish what we can’t; He can do more through us than we could ever do on our own. Our struggles are meant to draw us into a deeper dependence on the Lord instead of pulling us away from Him. Allow God to use your weaknesses and struggles instead of retreating.