IS ANYTHING TOO HARD?

1. Is anything too hard for God?  

a) 27"I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? (Jeremiah 32:27 NIV)

i) God told Jeremiah to buy a field outside Jerusalem. The city had been under siege for a year, and Jeremiah bought land that the soldiers occupied - certainly a poor investment. In addition, Jeremiah was a prisoner in the palace. But Jeremiah was demonstrating his faith in God's promises to bring his people back and to rebuild Jerusalem.

ii) Trust doesn't come easily. It wasn't easy for Jeremiah to publicly buy land already captured by the enemy. But, he trusted God. It isn't easy for us to believe that God can fulfil his 'impossible' promise either, but we must trust him.

iii) After Jeremiah bought the field, he began to wonder if such a move was wise. He sought relief in prayer from his nagging doubts.

iv) God would restore Jerusalem, not because the people cried, but because it was part off his ultimate plan. The Babylonian disaster did not change God's purpose for his people. Although Jerusalem would be destroyed, it would be restored.

v) God assured Jeremiah that he had only to call God and God would answer.

b) 14Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son." (Genesis 18:14 NIV)

i) God had promised Abraham a son, Isaac (Genesis 18:10-15; 21:1-7 NIV)

@1. 10... "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son."Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?" 13Then the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' 14Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son." 15Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh. "But he said, "Yes, you did laugh." (Genesis 18:10-15 NIV)

@2. 1Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. 4When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." 7And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age." (Genesis 21:1-7 NIV)

2. Is the Lord's arm too short? or When did the Lord become weak? 

a) Quail from the Lord (Numbers 11:4-23; 31-34 NIV)

i) 4The rabble (a noisy, disorderly crowd) with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! 5We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!" 

7The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. 8The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. 9When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down. 

10Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. 11He asked the Lord, "Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? 12Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? 13Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, 'Give us meat to eat!' 14I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. 15If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favour in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin." 

16The Lord said to Moses: "Bring me seventy of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone. 

18"Tell the people: 'Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, "If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!" Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. 19You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 20but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"

But Moses said, 21"Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, 'I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!' 22Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?" 

23The Lord answered Moses, "Is the Lord's arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you." (Numbers 11:4-23 NIV)

ii) 31Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day's walk in any direction. 32All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp. 33But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. 34Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food. (Numbers 11:31-34 NIV)

iii) The Egyptians who had come with the people of Israel began to long for the good things of Egypt. They long for a few bites of meat! "Oh that we had some of the delicious fish we enjoyed so much in Egypt, and the wonderful cucumber and melons, leeks, onions, and garlic! But now our strength is gone, and day after day we have to face this manna!"

iv) Then the Lord said to Moses, "Tell them, the Lord heard your tearful complaints about all you left behind in Egypt, and he is going to give you meat. You shall eat it, not just a day or two, or five or ten or even twenty! For one whole month you will have meat until you vomit it from your noses; for you have rejected the Lord who is here among you, and you have wept for Egypt."

v) But Moses said, "There are 600,000 men alone, and yet you promise them meat for a whole month! If we butcher all our flocks and herds it won't be enough! We would have to catch every fish in the ocean to fulfil your promise!"

vi) Then the Lord said to Moses, "Has my arm been shortened?" or "When did I become weak?" Now you shall see whether my word comes true or not!"

3. What were Sarah and Moses' problems?

a) They did not believe the spoken word of God.

b) The were looking at their physical circumstances rather than spiritual possibilities.

c) They focused on what they could do rather than allowing God to perform extra-ordinary miracles.

d) In actual fact, they questioned God's integrity.

e) 19God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers 23:19 NIV)

4. What was God trying to say?

a) He can bring to pass all that he has promised.

b) He will do it at the appointed time according to his plan and not accordingly to our time. He will make everything beautiful in its time.

c) 9What do workers gain from their toil?

i) 10I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:9-11 NIV)

d) He has all the power to accomplish what he has set to do in our lives.

e) He will do it only you would let him do his way and believe what he had said.

f) He is strong and he doesn't change but our view of him does.

5. How could these passages apply to our lives?

a) Make it a habit to ask question in relation to our specific needs:

i) Is this day we are living too hard for the Lord to make it joyful?

ii) Is this bad habit we are having too hard for him to break?

iii) Is this relationship problem we are having too hard for him to resolve?

iv) Is this communication breakdown we are having too hard for him to rectify?

v) Is this financial need we are having too hard for him to provide?

6. Prayer focus

a) Pray that in whatever situation we are in we believe that God is in control and he is able to help us overcome it.

b) Pray that we do not doubt and believe that nothing is too hard for God to resolve our problems.