Anything Too Hard

“Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son."—Genesis 18:14

What are you facing now that you believe is impossible to overcome or deal with? What relationship, trial, or tribulation are you facing that is beyond your ability to handle? God delights in showing Himself to be God on your behalf, and He honors all who trust in Him.

Today’s passage surrounds the promise God gave to Abraham to give him a son through his wife Sarah. Such a promise may not seem that farfetched because people have children every day. But this birth would be something utterly amazing because the father would be almost 100 years old and the mother would be 90. Both knew that they were past childbearing years, and once God told Abraham that Sarah would be a mother next year, Sarah, who was in the tent nearby, heard Him and laughed to herself at such a prospect. She thought, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?" (v. 12). God responded by asking Abraham a question: “Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son" (v. 13-14).

When asked by God if she had laughed, Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," because she was afraid. But God made sure that she understood that He was the Lord who could do all things, so he gently told her, “No, but you did laugh” (v. 15). God’s words were proven true, as a year later, Sarah gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Isaac, which means “laughter,” an ironic twist on her unbelief in the face of God’s promise.

Nothing is impossible with God or too hard for Him. He is the God who made the universe and everything in it. He knows our thoughts, and the hairs on our head. And if He can take a 90-year-old woman and a 100-year-old man and make them parents, then whatever situation we are facing is minuscule in comparison. He can handle any situation that comes our way, and help us with whatever obstacle faces us.

Do you believe that God can help or transform the situation in which you find yourself? What is keeping you from giving it over to God? Is the situation becoming bigger than the Savior? Has the circumstance trumped God’s Christ? Lay whatever it is you are facing at His feet. Because it is only in laying our troubles and trials at His feet that we truly discover that nothing is too hard for the Lord. Amen.