The LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?'

Is anything too hard for the LORD?"

Genesis 18:13-14, RSV 

 

The setting for the above exchange is this: God has just promised Abraham that he and Sarah would have a child. The only problem with this is that Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 89 years old. So when Sarah heard the promise, she laughed. You and I might have done the same had we been in her position. After all, she was past the age of childbearing, so having a child was physically impossible for her. The thing that Sarah was not taking into account was that God Himself was the one who had created physics, and nothing is impossible for God.

 

How can that help us today? For one thing, we look around this world and we see a lot of sin. Sometimes because we see so much, we get discouraged and think that it is all over. Our economy is over, our nation is over, our entire way of life is over! That's what many of us think when we are being honest with ourselves, and quite frankly we are right when looking from a purely physical point of view.

 

That's when we need to learn the lesson that 89 year-old Sarah had too learn: Nothing is too hard for God!

 

We all know that things are indeed not right with the world in which we live. The question is will we try to change it with the help of God, or we wallow in self-pity saying that there is nothing we can do? On our own, perhaps, the problems that we face are insurmountable. But with God, nothing is impossible.

 

How can we know this? It's because He has proven it over and over in the past. It is because His very creation literally screams that nothing is too hard for Him - if we will only open our eyes and see it. Some will indeed refuse to open their eyes... and they will wallow and whimper in their anger and frustration. But those of us who believe in God and Christ and in their promises know! We know that nothing that they want to accomplish is impossible!

 

Are we ready to believe this... or do we want to wallow and whimper with the masses of disbelievers who truly believe that some things are just too hard for God?

 

I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain,

'Move from here to there' and it will move. 

Nothing will be impossible for you.

Matthew 17:20, NIV

 

Today is day 5 of the 120 day challenge to study through the Old Testament, with Genesis 17-20 being the text for today. May God richly bless you as you learn the eternal truth that nothing is too hard for Him!