Is anything too hard for God?

Have you ever been stuck in a situation that feels too tough, too difficult, too insurmountable, even for God?

Have you ever been praying about a situation for so long that you’ve lost track of how many years it’s been, because it never seems to shift?

I know I have.

Just recently, I was in the midst of a very messy situation, having a rant at God. “Where are you?” I was angrily asking him. “Why haven’t you intervened yet? How much longer are we going to have to wait?”

(Like the Psalmists, I never hold back my emotions when I pray; I know he can handle them.)

And on this particular day, as he quieted my soul, he spoke the words of Jeremiah 32:27 into my spirit: “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind,” he said. “Is anything too hard for me?”

Reminded of the truth of this verse, I was humbled and silenced. I realised that I needed to stop looking at the mess – and start looking at him. I was getting frustrated about what was happening because I had my gaze fixed on the wrong thing.

In the weeks since, I’ve found myself frequently coming back to this powerful rhetorical question: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” So I thought I would share it here as my ‘thought for the month‘ for October.

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At the time when Jeremiah is writing this part of his book, the people of Israel have disobeyed God again. As a result, they are about to be taken into captivity by the Babylonians.

It’s an exile that has been prophesied to last for seventy years. Yet the people are acting as if it will last forever.

So it’s in this context that God, through Jeremiah, poses his rhetorical question: “Is anything too hard for me?”

He knows the exile will be hard, but he has promised that it won’t be permanent. So he wants to shift their perspective away from the predicament they are facing. He wants them to focus on him, “the Lord, the God of all mankind”, who is unchanging. He wants their gaze to be correctly aligned.

More than anything, he wants them to know that nothing is too hard for him. Nothing.

But the phrasing is clever; the asking of a rhetorical question is deliberate. It’s framed like this as an echo of the story of Abraham and Sarah, to remind the people of a previous time when God has asked the same identical question.

In that particular story, God appears to Abraham and Sarah and announces to them that they will have a son, notwithstanding their old age and infertility. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” he says to them in Genesis 18:14, before announcing that he will be back in a year, by which time a miracle will have happened.

So when God asks this question of the people of Israel through Jeremiah, he is doing so intentionally.

It might have seemed too hard for Abraham and Sarah to bear a son. But God had promised that this is what would happen – and it did. Isaac was born about a year after the promise.

It might seem too hard for the people of Israel to be brought out of captivity in Babylon and back to their land. But God is promising them that this is what will happen – and it does. They are released and restored seventy years after the promise.

“Is anything too hard for the Lord?” reminds us that, when God makes a promise, he always keeps it; when he speaks a word, it will always come to pass.

The answer to the question is always, “No, nothing is too hard for the Lord.”

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I don’t know what situations you are facing that seem “too hard”.

Maybe a doctor has given you a diagnosis you would rather not have had. Maybe a close relationship is under strain. Maybe your landlord wants to evict you. Maybe your employer wants to make your role redundant. Maybe the pregnancy test keeps coming back barren. Maybe you are up to your eyes in debt through no fault of your own.

It could be any number of things.

Whatever it is, don’t let the Enemy plant seeds of doubt or disappointment into your situation. Don’t believe the lie that says God doesn’t see or care what you are going through. Don’t give up praying and pressing in for God’s promise of breakthrough. Don’t let your gaze get distracted.  

Instead, lean in and listen to God’s gentle whisper, tenderly reminding you, “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?”

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What situation are you facing, which is “too hard” in human terms? How are you feeling about it?

If God has given you a promise to hold onto in the midst of the mess, how often are you praying about it and reminding him of it? Is it a question of waiting for his appointed timing?

And if God hasn’t yet spoken into your situation, what might it take for you to lean in and listen to what he has to say? How would things change if you were to shift your perspective and focus on him?

As ever, constructive comments are welcome below.

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(Please note: This is my ‘thought for the month’ reflection for October. You can find all my ‘thought for the month’ reflections here.)