“Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” Gen. 18:14
This sounds like a rhetorical question, but if we are really honest with ourselves we have wondered the same thing. When we have waited and prayed for so long, and there was nothing on the horizon to give us an indication that the change is on the way, when we look back at our journal and we are still praying the same prayer we prayed years ago, we wonder,” Is this too hard for the Lord?”
Obviously, the truth is, nothing is too difficult for our God. All things are possible with Him. Sarah had waited twenty four years. The faith she had at one time for having a child had changed faces a couple of times. There was a time that she didn’t question God and just believed what He said. Then after waiting for twelve or thirteen years, she started wondering if she heard the Lord right.
The Lord had made the promise to Abraham and not to Sarah. She could have been wondering, maybe she wasn’t going to be the one to bear this child. This is when she suggested to Abraham to sleep with her concubine, so Abraham can have a child. This was the norm in that period of time and culture. If a wealthy barren woman could not bear children, she could take the child that her concubine produced to be her own. Sarah must have justified her decision by looking at herself and finding her body as good as dead. In her own limited, human reasoning, she must have thought there must be another way the Lord wants to bring this about. Did the Lord ever ask for her assistance because He couldn’t deliver on the promise!? Did she think it’s time to redefine the promise since it’s not coming to pass in her timetable?
Is it only in times of success that we are hearing the Lord correctly? Why does unbelief and double-mindedness set in when we are waiting? Do we only believe God when we have the strength to accomplish the task in our own strength otherwise we doubt that it was God? Why do we question the character of God and the Word of God? Doesn’t the scripture tell us that “God is not a man that He should lie.” Numbers 23:19
Why would He want to lie anyway? Why would he have a need to lie? Man lies for self-preservation or for selfish gain. The Lord has no need to self-preserve, and there is nothing He can gain from us. He is the one who is constantly giving and blessing us. The best we can do is to worship Him with fear and trembling, but we can’t give Him anything. He owns the cattle on the thousand hills. He is the giver. So when God makes a promise and He makes a covenant, we’ve got to believe that what He says stands.
In Genesis 17, the scripture tells us that Abraham laughed when God told Him that Sarah was going to have a child. In Genesis 18, Sarah laughs too. The very promise of God that would have moved them and given them hope years ago, at this point of time, it sounds like just a funny joke. It is not believable anymore. The Lord was gracious and He didn’t punish them for their unbelief, but He wasn’t joking!!
This time, in Genesis 17, the Lord was specifically saying this child will come from Sarah and no one else!! The promise of the twenty four years ago suddenly had a definition and specificity that they had never heard before. Sarah was going to carry this child, and she was going to have this child in one year. Is there any room to fill in the gap with the flesh or carnal reasoning? Not anymore. It is finished. The child will be here in a year, and the child will be called Isaac which means “laughter”. The very child that brought a laugh out of unbelief, this time around will bring a laughter out of a promise fulfilled!!
For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 1Cor 1:19 (NIV)
What the Lord has promised, He will accomplish in our lives. When we try to figure out how the Lord is going to work it out in our lives, we start leaning on our own understanding and intelligence. Then when things don’t go the way we imagined, we get frustrated with God, with ourselves , and even with others!! If it is God’s promise, then He will accomplish it. It’s His baby first!! Realize that the promise will happen in His timing not ours. Many times when God is fulfilling a promise it’s not just for the person, but it’s also for those who will be blessed as a result of this promise being fulfilled. Abraham’s promise to have a child wasn’t just for him and Sarah, but it was for the generations to come which included us!!
If we desire something in our lives but it’s not God’s promise to us, then we need to surrender it to His will. Otherwise it can derail us from what God has for us because we’re too busy seeking/asking for what we want!! Sometimes our desire is based on what is popular or what others are doing. That’s not a good reason to desire something, and we should try to get clarity on that issue.
What seems too hard for the Lord to accomplish in your life? Be honest with the Lord. Ask Him to renew your faith, focus, & obedience. Make a commitment to the Lord that you will love Him, love His people. and praise Him regardless!!