Is Anything Too Difficult

Is anything too difficult for the Lord?

Genesis 18:14

The Lord appears to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day. He comes accompanied with two angels. Abraham looks to see three men standing before him, and he calls for Sarah to prepare a meal for their guest.

Abraham takes the prepared meal to his guests, the Lord and His two angels. The men ask Abraham where his wife, Sarah, is, and Abraham replies that she is in the tent. The men then remind Abraham in the hearing of Sarah (she is listening at the tent door, eavesdropping as we might say) about the promise of a son. They tell him that at this time next year, Sarah will have a son.

When Sarah hears these words, she laughs to herself. She laughs in disbelief. She knows her womb is dead, and she knows Abraham’s ability is also dead. Sarah was weak in faith, but her husband was not.

Without becoming weak in faith

he contemplated his own body,

now as good as dead

since he was about a hundred years old,

and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;

yet with respect to the promise of God,

he did not waver in unbelief

but grew strong in faith,

giving glory to God,

and being fully assured

that what God had promised,

He was able also to perform.

Romans 4:19–21

Abraham knew that the Lord was Elohim, Creator God.

The Lord asks Abraham in the hearing of Sarah, “Is anything too difficult for the Lord?”

The Lord doesn’t wait for an answer. He didn’t need one because the answer was obvious. Nothing is too difficult for God. He is in the business of creating life out of nothing and raising the dead. The point, I believe, of God waiting until their bodies’ abilities to conceive on their own had passed was to make sure that they understood beyond the shadow of any doubt that this son they would bear was the promised son. This son would be conceived through the power and might of their Lord God. This son, the promised seed, would be conceived in faith.

Oh Father,

What peace there is in knowing that nothing is too difficult for You. You brought both Abraham’s and Sarah’s bodies back from the dead to spring forth life, just as You did in me. I was dead in my sins, and You saw me and chose me and brought me from death to life. Now I am alive, and I too have in me the promised Son. Oh Father, when trials come and when promises seem delayed in their fulfillment, help me to remember that Abraham and Sarah waited over twenty-five years for Isaac and help me to remember that You are not slow about Your promises (2 Peter 3:9). You are always right on time.

My Jesus, it is in Your name that I pray,

Amen.