Is Anything Too Hard For God?
In Genesis 18:14 the question is asked, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” The speaker is identified as the Lord. God paid a visit to Abraham and Sarah, disguised in human form. The purpose of the visit was to confirm the promise of a yet-to-be-born son to this aging couple. The promise had first been made years before but the crib remained empty; there was still no child. As the promise is reaffirmed yet another time, Sarah is in the next room. The Bible says she laughed when she heard the words–it seemed even less plausible now then when the promise had first been made. Was this some sort of cruel cosmic joke?
The Divine Visitor heard her laugh, and asked the question, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
Maybe this qualifies as a rhetorical question–a question asked, but no response is really expected. A question where you assume everyone in the room knows the answer. Is anything too hard for the Lord?
As I read that question again this morning, the answer seemed obvious to me. Based on what I already know about Abraham and Sarah’s situation, of course the answer is a resounding “NO!” I read it as a rhetorical question. But further reflection reminds me that the answer isn’t as obvious when it’s MY life and MY doubt and MY questions and MY delayed dreams on the line.
We are just a few days into this new year, but already you may be facing one of those “up against the wall” kind of situations. Or maybe it’s a carry-over from last year, and you are still trying to figure out when and how it will be resolved. I don’t mean to make light of whatever it is you are up against, but can you imagine that, from God’s perspective, it’s about as tough to handle as flicking a fly off your wrist, or removing a piece of lint from your sweater? From my perspective it’s like scaling Mt. Everest; for God, not so much. Is anything too hard for the Lord?
For Abraham and Sarah, it won’t be much longer before they hear the first cry of a new-born son, at which point they might view this as a rhetorical question. But at the moment they’re not sure. They were still waiting on God to do what He said He would do.
The waiting rooms of life try our patience and test our faith. If you are in one of those waiting rooms right now, memorize the question: Is anything too hard for the Lord?
One Comment
Agreed, Rick. And we may not ever see the working of God on an issue in this life. I was reminded of Israel being in Egypt for 400 years before being brought out by Moses. I have to think that there were many descendants of Abraham who spent their entire lives in slavery with only the promise of redemption, but never the realization.