God is Always Able

I saw a church sign the other day on my way home from buying groceries that read, "When I am willing, God is able." 

Something seemed odd to me about that, so I pondered what I had read. "When I am willing, God is able." 

Then it occurred to me--that statement is a little misguided. Yes, yes, I know the point they were trying to make, but I think that they missed the mark just a little bit. 

You see, God is ALWAYS able. His "ability" is not based on our willingness at all. If we say that, we have turned the tables and have said God can only do what we're willing to let Him do and we have made it about us. Yes, God will use circumstances and situations in our lives to point to and reveal areas of unwillingness, but it has nothing to do with His abilities. After all, unwillingness is just disobedience and disobedience is sin. God could absolutely overlook our unwillingness and just make whatever He was wanting to use us for come to pass. He is "able" to do that. But He probably won't. He wants to breakdown our unwillingness in ways that can only point to Him so that we recognize it was Him and not us.

Now, I may have taken their statement a little too literally, but there should never be doubt as to what God has the ability to do. Once we think that His abilities hinge on what we are able to do, we stop giving Him the glory that He deserves.