September 3 – Too good to be true?

Is anything too hard for the Lord?  (Genesis 18:14  NKJV)

The Hebrew verb translated “too hard” means to be “amazing, extraordinary or wonderful.”  In other words, God’s desire is to do things that are so wonderful that we would normally pass them off as being impossible, too good to be true.  This is such a basic concept for those of us who live by faith.  In the book of Hebrews there is a statement that goes, “the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”  Rewards, amazing things, the extraordinary… these things have to be a part of our lives.  We have to fight to experience this, to get God to intervene in our lives in such a way that people are amazed at what happens to us.

Chapter eighteen of Genesis explains how God appeared to Abraham and Sarah, and declared that the next time He appeared to them Sarah would have a child.  This was such an amazing, impossible thing that she immediately laughed, thinking, how could this happen to us now that both Abraham and I are so old?  And so God responded to her laugh by asking this question, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”  And true to His word, one year later God appeared to Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac was in her arms — their miracle baby!

If we were dealing with something physical like buying a car, knew that our income could easily handle the monthly car payments, that our credit was good, and knew that we had enough money in savings to pay a healthy down payment, we would not laugh at the idea of buying the car that we had always dreamed of having.  We wouldn’t be worried about whether or not the salesman would sell us the car.  We would be confident of driving home that new car that very day.  But so often when it comes to God — our Father, who is all-powerful, limitless in wealth, and loves us more than anyone else — we are consumed with doubt that He will come through for us and make the transformation we want in our lives, family or health, even though we say that we believe it is His will.  

Like Sarah, some of us laugh at the idea that God would do amazing, wonderful things in our lives.  We’ve been trained by the devil and circumstances to expect the worst and to be suspicious of anything extraordinarily good.  We find it hard to believe that God will do the impossible, that he will intervene to make our lives better.  Some of us forget that one of our purposes in life is to glorify God, and how are we to do that when our life is miserable and unhappy?  God wants our lives to reflect the promises of the Bible, to prove to people that he is alive and active today, that His promises are not old fashioned and out of date.

Because God is God, His plans are amazing and wonderful, and at first glance, impossible.  But we have to remind ourselves that we’re not dealing with a man, but with the Creator of all things.  Let’s believe in great things and remember that nothing is to hard for our God.