I'm reading through Genesis these days. I recently came across the story of the conversation between God and Abraham regarding Sodom and Gomorrah. You remember the one. Abraham said to God, "Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?" (Gen 18:24). Abraham, the first Jew, is busy dickering with God about how many righteous it would take to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. If you read the account, it's pretty clear that God's answer is, in essence, "I won't destroy the righteous with the wicked." All well and good, and I find the story amazing, but the part that really caught my eye occurred before this conversation.
God and two of His angels came for a visit. Abraham showed proper hospitality, and while they were enjoying a pleasant meal together, God told Abraham, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son" (Gen 18:10). In an earlier account (Gen 17) we find the very first reference to ROFLOL -- Roll On the Floor Laughing Out Loud. (It literally says, "Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed.") This time, however, it's Sarah who laughs. "Sarah laughed to herself, saying, 'After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?'" (Gen 18:12). Sarah's secret laugh wasn't secret to God. He responded, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Gen 18:13-14).
It's a fun story and we know the outcome of God's promise to Abraham. Sarah did indeed have a son, Isaac, from whom all of Israel came, including the Christ, Who is the reason that we have been grafted in. It's a marvelous story and we delight in it.
The funny thing is that, while we delight in it, we don't really seem to learn from it. We sit back and chuckle at silly Abraham and Sarah for laughing at God. We know the outcome, so it's easy for us. "You silly characters," we might think, "God is actually going to do what you think is impossible." Why is it, then, that when we're faced with difficulties and trials we seem to think, "It's too hard for God"? We are promised that God works all things together for good. We are commanded to count it all joy when we encounter trials. And we have ample evidence that God does indeed do what He promises -- that nothing is too difficult for Him.
Each of us faces tough times. Maybe you are right now. If not, you will. Rest assured. Nothing is too difficult for God. There is no safer resting place.
"Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Gen 18:14).
2 comments:
Good Word. The sad thing is that we mostly fail to look back at our own lives and recognize those many times where God has done the impossible for us.
I seems to be a human thing. Think about Israel and the Exodus. There they are, watching 10 miraculous events in a row, all the while protected themselves, culminating in their masters coming to them and giving them riches and saying, "Please ... go." They left, got up against the Red Sea, and saw God work with protection from behind and a miraculous escape route ahead. Once safe, God drowned their pursuers. Doesn't get much better than that. And, still, within a month they were already complaining, "Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger" (Exo 16:3). Seems like we humans have an extremely short memory for God's miraculous hand in our lives.
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