People kept telling me nothing is impossible with God while I prayed for a miracle that never came. What am I supposed to do with a promise like that now?

“If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

Three exiles are standing in front of a king who has just told them they will be burned alive for refusing to bow. Their answer says God is able to rescue them and then adds two words that change everything: but if not. They commit to obedience without a guaranteed outcome. That sentence is one of the most honest statements of faith anywhere in scripture.

“And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

Jesus prays in Gethsemane hours before his arrest, and he asks for the cup to pass from him. He believed the Father could remove it, and it was not removed. Whatever the phrase about all things being possible means, it cannot mean every request is granted, because the clearest case of unanswered prayer in the Bible belongs to Jesus himself.