Pure, pure King of all, seeing all, hearing all.
Holy One of old, holding all, loving all.
Father God in whom your sons confide,
daughters call and find you by their side.

Father God of possibilities,
you heal the lame to walk and blind to see,
but even if you don’t deliver me,
I will trust you and I will worship you.

Patient King of all, seeing all, hearing all.
Mighty One of old, holding all, loving all.
God, your love for us goes on and on,
it matches our response and far beyond.

You can never disappoint me,
your mercy wide as oceans.
Your ways are high and perfect,
you are for me, not against me.

Words and music by Roo Stewart
Copyright ©2007 Rooster Music, admin. by roostewart.com
Recorded on the album “Presence”

Story behind the song

I've often heard the phrase that God is the ‘God of the impossible’. I understand the point, but in this song I wanted to reframe our language to emphasise the possibilities, mirroring the angel Gabriel‘s declaration to Mary in the Bible:

“Nothing is impossible for God!”

Luke 1:37 (CEV)

The song came about after months of faithful praying for a woman in our church who had an aggressive form of cancer. We had heard of miraculous healings for others, in the Bible and since. Buoyed by this, we fasted, we laid on hands, we anointed with oil, we declared, we proclaimed, we prophesied... but even after all this activity and the best medical treatment available, she passed away and many were heartbroken.

Had we failed somehow? Had our expectations been unrealistic? Did God really care? Was it incorrect to say that nothing is impossible for God? It was a tough time. My faith was shaken, and I realised that I needed to understand God better, rather than trying to impose my will, timeline and expectations upon God.

I was somewhat comforted by some scripture from the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
”As the heavens are higher than the Earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8–9 (NRSVA)

Psalm 115 was really helpful to contrast human-made idols with the living God:

Our God is in the heavens,
and he does as he wishes.
Their [The other nations’] idols are merely things of silver and gold,
shaped by human hands.
They have mouths but cannot speak,
and eyes but cannot see.
They have ears but cannot hear,
and noses but cannot smell.

Psalm 115:3-6 (NLT)

My conclusion was to declare in faith, ‘You can never disappoint me’. This was a deliberate positioning on my part to say that when things don’t go my way, I will trust that God has another way in mind, even if I just can’t see it or understand it now.

There's one more portion of the Old Testament that helped inspire the song: the account in the book of Daniel that describes how three young men, refusing to bow down to worship other gods, faced the death penalty in a fiery furnace. Their response was to defiantly declare:

’If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

Daniel 3:17–18 (NLT)

It's an amazing story of faith and worship – with modern analogues today in places where people are victimised because of their faith. I wonder how many Christians would be able to echo that deep faith not just when things are going well but also when times are challenging? ‘Even if you don’t deliver me, I will trust you, and I will worship you.’

Listen to a recording of ‘God of Possibilities’ on the Presence album here: