“Is Anything too hard for the Lord?“
Genesis 18:14 ESV
I waited seven years to experience the fulfillment of a promise given to me by God. That promise was the salvation of my now husband who was a stark unbeliever when we began dating. The details of this time are outlined in a prior post. During that waiting season, the stories of various bible characters gave me hope that the Lord would keep His promise to me. Abraham’s story in particular was the one that I clung to most closely. In hindsight, this story gave me not only hope but courage, direction, and a warning. Abraham’s story would be the example that I would follow while waiting on the Lord. Looking at his waiting season can inform any believer who finds themselves in a similar situation. A situation with a promised outcome that appears to be impossible unless God proves Himself faithful.
Our God is by no means predictable. His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). Nothing is impossible for Him and our imaginations are not capable of conceptualizing all that He can do (Ephesians 3:20). Our God is also unchanging (Hebrews 13:8). His character, His faithfulness, and His sovereignty are a constant that we can depend on. In my experiences, I have found that while we cannot predict what He will do, there is a consistent pattern He has revealed to us in the bible about the way He moves. Perhaps He has allowed this framework to be discernible for our benefit. I found it incredibly helpful to be able to look at the experiences of those in the bible and see parallels to my own experience. These similarities emboldened me to continue to trust God to be faithful. When circumstances seemed to be consistently unfavorable, I could look at the bible stories and see how that often just set the stage for a greater miracle. When years past and hopelessness threatened, I could recall that some promises took decades to be fulfilled. My intent is to present the framework that I found in Abraham’s story of waiting for his promised son. The parallels I saw became the foundation of my faith while waiting for my own promise.
Abraham’s story, then called Abram, begins in Genesis chapter 12. Verse 1 states, “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” Abraham’s first encounter with God leaves him with the command to leave everything he has known, what is comfortable, and what is separating him from God. His family worshipped idols which is unacceptable and incompatible with a life dedicated to the One True God (Joshua 24:2). As believers, this moment comes for all of us. While our call may not be to physically leave the place we reside in, we are called to leave behind the ways of the flesh to follow Christ (Romans 8:4). Sometimes in order to do so we may find that our life begins to look very different. We may need to leave behind certain friends, activities, or places we frequent. May we be like Abraham, who did as the Lord commanded in verse 4, “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, . . .”
After this initial sacrifice, if God desires to bring us into a new level of intimacy with Him or stir our faith to believe for something new, He may bring us into a season of isolation. In my own story, this looked like many years of being set apart with Christ after receiving my salvation without any Christian community. I was regularly attending church but could not get connected at the time. I had no Christian friends to call and if someone in my circle said the name of Jesus, it was usually with a cuss word. When I had a question, it was God that I turned to first and He always answered (James 1:5). When I needed direction, I sought the Lord and He always told me which way to go (Isaiah 30:21). Revelations about the Lord’s character were revealed to me by Him directly. This time served to build up my relationship with Jesus in such a way that I would be able to discern His voice clearly despite any circumstance I might be facing (John 10:27). I got to know the Lord as not only a Holy God but also my closest ever-present friend. Much like Abraham, God needed to keep me separated from anything that might hinder my relationship with Him. He was teaching me how to stand firm in my faith without the insulation of Christian community.* Like Abraham after his first commandment from God and like my first few years as a Christian, this isolation removes distractions, silences opposing voices, and increases our sensitivity to His voice. Without the deep roots the Lord established for me in Him, I do not think I could have endured the years that followed while still believing for my promise. If the Lord had not separated Abraham from a culture of idol worship, he too may not have been able to endure the two and a half decades of waiting for his promised son while still turning to the One True God.
This separation may leave us feeling lonely and off balance for a time as the Lord removes any crutches we once depended on. It may seem cruel or harsh to us in the moment but God’s intentions are that we would turn to Him instead. He alone can sustain us with the strength and endurance we need to outlast any trial (Ephesians 3:16). He can also provide us with joy despite any circumstance we may be facing (Nehemiah 8:10). Our dependency on Him must increase in these seasons so that our faith will not fail and hopelessness will not reign.
If the purpose of being set apart in isolation by God for a time is to ultimately receive a blessing, then a promise from the Lord will most likely shortly follow. This promise will be deeply personal to the person receiving it and will be relevant to the person’s life. Most importantly, the promise will give God glory when it is fulfilled in His way at His appointed time. In my story that was my husband’s salvation, in Abraham’s story, this promise is given in verse 2. The verse says, “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Verse 3 ends with, “. . . and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” In verse 7 we see a confirmation of the promise given to Abraham when the Lord says, “To your offspring I will give this land.” Abraham was seventy-five years old at the time with a wife who was in her sixties with no children and yet he was being promised an heir from his own bloodline (Genesis 17:17). What God was promising seemed impossible. A man advanced in years with no biological offspring would become a nation of people and become a blessing to the whole world. It seems that when God makes a promise it is often for something that is unlikely at best and impossible at worst. The improbability of whatever God has spoken becomes evidence of His sovereignty, faithfulness, and desire to mightily bless His children when the word is fulfilled. God makes big promises to show Himself capable of all things and to turn the hearts of His children back to Himself. When God promised me that He was after the heart of my husband, His endeavor seemed at the time to me to be impossible. Reading all the ways God has showed up for His people in the past gave me hope. He had already accomplished far more impossible things then converting a firm unbeliever.
What follows a promise is often a lengthy and difficult waiting season. While no two waiting seasons may look exactly alike, there are similarities in experiences that can be expected. My own seven year waiting season presented three commonalities that I found in Abraham’s story that I believe are noteworthy. The first is the Lord’s tendency to offer encouragement and continued confirmation of what was spoken. Secondly, internal doubt is sure to arise as our expectations of when and how God will move fail to be realized. Lastly, those around us that are affected by our faith may pressure us to compromise our belief in our promise while expressing their doubt or disbelief. Both our internal battle with doubt as well as the pressure from others could be the result of spiritual warfare from the enemy. The enemy is not explicitly referred to in Abraham’s story but those three elements are.
Abraham received his promise when he was seventy-five years old. He would not experience the fulfillment of that promise until he was one-hundred years old (Genesis 21:5). Abraham had to trust God to be faithful for twenty-five years. During that time, he received many confirmations from the Lord to keep his hope alive. The Lord knows that our faith will falter as time passes with no evidence of a breakthrough coming. A holy and perfect God who spoke the world into existence should only need to speak to His children once to be trusted for what was spoken. I find myself continually in awe that despite this fact our God is kind enough to confirm His promises again and again. In the book of Genesis, between chapter 13 and chapter 21, God confirms His promise to give Abraham an heir through Sarah several times (Genesis 13:14-15, 15:1, 15:4, 17:16, 17:19, 17:21, 18:10, 18:14). I also experienced many words of encouragement from God while waiting for my promise. These confirmations kept my hope alive when my faith seemed to fail me. The words were always timely and exactly what I needed to hear. The Lord knows what we need to hear and when we need to hear it.
God also performs a ritual covenant ceremony with Abraham confirming His promise again (Genesis 15:9). The significance of that ceremony can be easily lost on us as present-day bible readers. Abraham however would have been well aware of how profound the Lord performing that ritual was. In this ceremony, animals are slaughtered, cut in half, and the halves laid in such a way as to make a path down the center. Both parties would walk this path while swearing oaths to each other. The intention was to signify that if one party broke the oath then may that person become as the animals are. Not only did God orchestrate this ritual for Abraham’s confidence and assurance but only the Lord walked that path. Effectively, the Lord did not allow Abraham to take part in a covenant ritual that would call for a curse if Abraham did not uphold his oath (Genesis 15:18). God alone would bear the penalty for a broken covenant. Of course, God will never go back on His word, He is faithful (Proverbs 30:5). Additionally, this ritual was in direct response to Abraham’s cry in Genesis 15:8, “O Lord God, how am I to know . . .” Abraham asked for reassurance greater than the Lord Almighty Himself delivering a word directly to him. What mercy of the Lord to respond to that kind of wavering with a ritual that was so rich with significance and commitment.
Despite several confirmations from God directly, Abraham experienced doubt. We first see Abraham’s struggle with the reality of his situation and the promise of God in chapter 15 before the ritual ceremony. After receiving another reassuring word from the Lord, Abraham laments to God how he perceives the future (Genesis 15:1). In verse 2 he replies to the Lord, “O Lord God, what shall you give me, for I continue (or I shall die) childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abraham follows his statement exposing more of his grief by saying, “Behold, you have given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my heir” (Genesis 15:3). In Genesis 12:7, God plainly promised Abraham that his own offspring will be his heir. Nonetheless, Abraham shared with God what he really felt and believed. By sharing his hopelessness with the Lord instead of hiding his true feelings, Abraham was able to receive further reassurance from God. In verse 5, God tells Abraham that there will be as many of his offspring as there are stars in the sky. From then on, every time Abraham would look at the stars, he had a glorious reminder of what he was promised. I also battled doubt like Abraham as time passed and there was no change in my husband’s attitude toward the Lord. There were times I thought I had heard God all wrong. Other times I was so focused on what was that I paid no attention to what God said would be. Those timely words of encouragement from the Lord came to me during those weak moments.
This chapter in Abraham’s story is evidence that doubt is sure to arise while waiting on God. Additionally, we see two very important principles to apply to our own waiting season and faith walk in general. First, it is vitally important that we not withhold our grief, confusion, and laments from the Lord. God already knows our hearts but He waits for us to come to Him with our hurts. When we do, we find the compassion and patience of our God. The Lord could have reacted to Abraham’s complaint and uncertainty with outrage or contempt. Instead, God kindly reassured him by using the innumerable stars of the sky as symbolic of his future offspring to stir his faith. God did not rebuke Abraham; He met his despair with understanding and encouragement. Secondly, the bible tells us in verse 6 that Abraham “believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” We see that Abraham’s belief became his righteousness in God’s eyes (Romans 4:9). The Lord’s utmost concern is not our perfect behavior but our ability to put our trust in Him. If we trust the Lord then we are able to walk in His commandments and believe for His promises. Our trust and belief in God and His character is the foundation of our relationship with Him. Without belief, we cannot accept that Jesus died for us, Holy Spirit lives in us, and God the Father dearly loves us. Without belief we cannot follow where God leads because we will not believe that He is good enough to want what is best for us.
Abraham believed what the Lord told Him in chapter 15 and yet he would find himself experiencing doubt once more. Another encounter with God is detailed in chapter 17 where Abraham is promised again that Sarah his wife will bear him a child. Verse 17 says, “Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” Every detail the bible offers matters. Laughing to himself suggests that Abraham felt a degree of hopeless resignation at that moment. So much so that he did not refrain from allowing that laughter before the Lord. In verse 18 Abraham says, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you.” Abraham was so desperate to see the promise of offspring outnumbering the stars fulfilled that he lowered his expectations to an outcome he could control. The son that he suggested to God was not born by Sarah, whom the Lord said would bear this promised heir, but by Sarah’s servant, Hagar. In verse 19 the Lord denies Abraham’s request to use Ishmael to fulfill the promise. Instead, God informs Abraham that his promised son’s name is to be Isaac and that he would be born the following year (Genesis 17:21).
Abraham’s first-born son, Ishmael, was the result of Abraham listening to the voice of his wife instead of holding fast to God’s promise (Genesis 16:2). Understandably, Sarah was deeply grieved by her barrenness. Any woman struggling to conceive can testify to the depth of that pain. In an attempt to circumvent the Lord, Sarah demanded that Abraham take her servant for a wife in order to obtain children by her (Genesis 16:3). Abraham listened and everyone involved is negatively impacted by the decisions made, especially Hagar. Doubt can leave us trying to manipulate situations to achieve what God has spoken over us. Doing so requires that we take matters into our own hands. Our desperate and often disobedient actions will never yield satisfying results. Instead of obliging Sarah’s request, Abraham could have encouraged her in the Lord. Instead of sowing doubt and disobedience, Sarah could have cried out to the Lord and perhaps received comfort or a word of encouragement (1 Samuel 1:10). Most importantly, Abraham should have stood firm on the promise that Sarah would conceive and bear him offspring at the Lord’s appointed time. Instead of listening to the voice of his wife, he should have listened to the voice of His God.
Abraham was the one to receive the promise in addition to multiple confirmations and encouragements. Therefore, he had the responsibility to wait on the Lord despite pressure from his wife to rebel against God. It is vital that we never abandon our conviction to follow the Lord in order to appease someone else, regardless of how close that person is to us. Even well-meaning Christians are capable of speaking a word contrary to that which the Lord spoke over you.* They may be lacking in faith, experience, or biblical knowledge and their doubts can become our doubts. For Sarah, Abraham’s faith was contributing to her lack of children. Her doubt and despair led him to make a foolish decision. This part of their story has been a source of great strength and conviction when I am faced with other’s opinions of what God has promised me. I experienced such an encounter in the early days after receiving my promise from God about my husband. A well-meaning and more mature Christian called our relationship “missionary dating”. This created anxiety and confusion for me as I wrestled with whether or not to believe him or believe God. If I had not chosen to continue to believe the Lord, I would have missed everything the Lord had for us.
When the wait seems unbearably long and the circumstances seem insurmountable, Genesis 18:14 can offer hope. In this verse the Lord says to Abraham, “Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, . . .” This verse can remind us that there is truly nothing impossible for the Lord. No matter what your situation is, the Lord is able. No matter how big His promise is to you, He will fulfill it. Additionally, there is always an appointed time. It is tremendously difficult to wait especially when the time that has passed is far longer than you imagined and there is seemingly no end in sight. God knows the details. Habbakuk 2:3 says, “For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end- it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.” Even if it seems slow, we can rest in the assurance that the breakthrough will not come one second later than the Lord predetermined.
God’s question to Abraham, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”, was in response to Sarah’s laughter in chapter 18, verse 12. Much like Abraham, after hearing God promise that they would have their son the following year, she laughed in hopeless disbelief. The appointed time for the promise finally comes in chapter 21. Verse 1 and 2 states, “The Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as He had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.” Sarah’s laughter goes from that of sorrow to joy. In verses 6 and 7 she says, “. . . “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”” God knew she would nurse her child. God knew she would bear Abraham a son. “Isaac” means “he laughs”. His name would serve as a reminder that no matter how laughable the Lord’s promises may seem, He is faithful to finish what He starts.
Abraham had no biblical stories to reference for strength, hope, or guidance during his twenty-five-year experience with the Lord. He could not look to God’s prior patterns and faithfulness to bolster his wavering faith. Unlike Abraham, we have the bible. The Lord has given us His written word to look to at all times and in all seasons, especially seasons of waiting. The bible is all the evidence we need to wait on the Lord until our own testimonies can be added to the multitude declaring His faithfulness to His children. Whether you are just beginning a new season with the Lord or are in the thick of an arduous wait, I pray that you will find the encouragement God has for you in the scriptures. May it be said of you, “. . . blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45).
