(By Rachel Joyce)
As we seek to live for God and live out His love to those around us, sometimes the difficulties of life or problems that we face can seem insurmountable. Discouragement can slip in and a heaviness weighs us down. Even though we continue praying and praying and praying, when we don’t see any results, it can be so hard to keep going. We know that in His Word God has affirmed the effectiveness of our prayers, but doubts can creep in. When the trial is deep and the problem painful, sometimes despair wraps its icy fingers around our hearts and squeezes out hope. If we are to keep going, it is imperative to fix our hope firmly in the Lord. No, we may not have the answers we want right now. It may look like God is not working, but we can rest in His faithfulness. He will not fail to show us mercy and grace because that’s just who He is. We can trust Him. We can place our hope in Him. “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD” (Lam. 3:26).
Over and over throughout the Scriptures, we see proof of God’s power. He spoke and the worlds came into being. When His people were being pursued by the Egyptians, He opened up the Red Sea and made a dry path for them to flee for safety. When Jesus was on earth, He demonstrated God’s life-giving power by giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, healing to the lame ones, and cleansing to the lepers; He even raised the dead back to life again (Luke 7:22). We have never seen such power, so it can be hard for us to comprehend this. But God wants us to live with the awareness of His powerful presence with us. He has given us three Old Testament verses to remind us that nothing is too hard for Him. He doesn’t want us to miss it. In case we forget, in case everything in life seems to point to the contrary, this truth will never change. Nothing is too hard for our God.
“Then the LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, “Can an old woman like me have a baby?” Is anything too hard for the LORD?’” (Gen. 18:13).
“Then after I had given the papers to Baruch, I prayed to the LORD: ‘O Sovereign LORD! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for You...You are the great and powerful God’” (Jer. 32:16-18).
“Then this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ‘I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for Me?’” ( Jer. 32:26-27)
I don’t know what your “hard thing” is, but I do know my God. I know that He is greater.
His heart is tender to you and He is with you in your need and heartache. He is able to provide all you need to survive and to thrive. Jude reminds us that He “Is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy” (Jude 1:24). Now that is power!
Today, may we be strengthened by the knowledge that our God able to do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” All the burdens that weigh us down are as nothing to Him. Listen to the words of Isaiah:
Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless…But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint (Isa 40:28-29, 31).
This is His promise and we can depend upon it. When I was in my teen years, a little overwhelmed with the demands of school and life, I memorized a poem which helped me immeasurably:
"What God Hath Promised"
(By Annie Johnson Flint)
God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.
God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep.
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way;
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.
May the awareness of His unfailing sympathy and undying love fill us with the strength we need today. May the knowledge of His great power help us to live in the good of it, so that our hearts are able to rest in His peace because nothing is too hard for our God.
