"Is Anything Too Difficult For The Lord?" – Genesis 18:14

by Chris Simmons

We read in Genesis chapter 18 of three angels who visit Abraham and Sarah and deliver the news to them that “at this time next year…Sarah your wife shall have a son” (verse 10). Sarah, being “advanced in age” and “past childbearing,” reacted to this by laughing and questioning whether this could be. To this, the Lord responded by asking in verses 13 and 14, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?' Is anything too difficult for the LORD?” Though human wisdom suggested this promise could not be true, God challenges us to consider whether there is anything that God is unable to accomplish.

To answer the question of whether anything is too difficult for the Lord, it will help us to answer the following questions. First, was it too difficult for God to speak the entire physical realm into existence? Peter responded to those who doubted Christ’s return by pointing out that they were willfully ignorant of the fact that “by the word of God the heavens existed long ago” (II Peter 3:5). It was not too difficult for God to create all things by His word.

Was it too difficult for God to deliver the promised land to His chosen people without conventional human wisdom and plans? The battle of Jericho is just one example of how divine wisdom and power overcame physical might and power to deliver the city to them. We read of this divinely inspired (yet certainly unorthodox by human wisdom) strategy in Joshua chapter 6 which the Israelites explicitly followed as God had told them and the city was “utterly destroyed” (verse 21).

Was it too difficult for God to deliver the Israelites from the hands of their enemies? Whether it be the Philistines through David who was incredibly disadvantaged in physical size and strength yet expressed his great faith in God in I Samuel 17:37 where he said, “the LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Or whether it be the Midianites, who were overcome despite a huge disparity in the size of their army over the Israelites. We read in Judges Chapter 7 that through God’s directions, Israel’s army was reduced to just 300 men though an army of 135,000 assembled against them (a ratio of 450 to 1). Yet through their faith and obedience, the Midianites were utterly destroyed.

Was it too difficult for God to plan and execute His plan to redeem man from before the creation of the world? God’s plan to save man has existed from before anything was spoken into existence. We read in Ephesians 1:3-4, that “before the foundation of the world” God had planned that “all spiritual blessings” would be found “in Christ.” God has had an “eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:10-11) that was to culminate in those cleansed by the blood of His Son being added to His church or His kingdom. Was it too difficult for God to carry out this plan? Indeed God was able to bring the fulfillment of the promise to bless “all the families of the earth” (Acts 3:24-25) beginning in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, just as He had purposed to do before the beginning of time. Nor was it too difficult for God send His “only begotten Son” (John 3:16) to offer the only perfect sacrifice for sin in spite of the Father’s great love for His Son (cf., John 17:23-26).

Was it too difficult for God to reveal Himself to man in a clear and understandable way so that we might know His will? Unfortunately, many today (even within the Lord’s Church) would say, “Yes.” Yet we read in Ephesians 3:3-5 that Paul wrote down what the Holy Spirit had revealed to him so that when we read we “can understand” what God’s will is (cf., Ephesians 5:17). God promised through the prophet Isaiah that “My word … shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:8-11).

To all of the questions above, the Bible emphatically answers “NO” to whether any of these things were “too difficult” for God. Yet we must consider the application in our own lives as to whether anything is too difficult for God. For example, is it too difficult for God to “rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment” (II Peter 2:9)? Is it too difficult for God to “provide the way of escape” (I Corinthians 10:12)? No, the means of “rescue” from temptation and the “way of escape” are always provided, the question is, “Will we have the courage and resolve to accept them?” Paul expressed confidence in God when he wrote in II Timothy 1:12, “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

Is it too difficult for God to provide what we need in this life? In Matthew 6:33, God has promised that the necessities of this life will be granted to us if we “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” God is able but are we willing?

Is it too difficult for God to answer the prayers of the righteous (James 5:16; John 9:31) that are offered in faith (James 1:6) and in accordance with His will (I John 5:14-15)? The One who was able to create the world, execute His plan to save man and reveal His will to us in an understandable way is also able to answer the prayer offered in faith in accordance with His will. Paul argues from the greater to the lesser in Romans 8:31-32 in regards to God’s ability to answer our prayers for what we need to be spiritually successful, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” If God was willing to give us His Son, will He not also respond to our prayers with all that we need to succeed in our spiritual battles?

Nothing is too difficult for God but we must understand that there are things, that due to His character and nature, He simply will not, and therefore can not do. For example, God will not, and can not change His will (Malachi 3:6; Jude 3; Hebrews 6:17; I Peter 1:23-25). Also, we are told that God will not, and can not lie (Hebrews 6:17-18; I Samuel 15:29; Titus 1:1-2). We are also taught in God’s word that God will not, and can not ever compromise His justice and His righteousness (Romans 3:24-26).