The Bible in 52 Weeks: A Yearlong Bible Study for Women

WEEK 1

THERE’S NOTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD!

MY PURPOSE IS TO ENCOURAGE the encourager today. While you focus on the needs of those around you, remember that God has not forgotten about you. He hears your prayers and remembers your heart’s desires and struggles. He posed a question to Abraham in Genesis 18:14: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (NIV). And the answer is that there is absolutely nothing too hard for God. Ephesians 3:20 says that God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (NKJV). There is nothing you could think of or ask that God cannot do.

In the story of Sarah and Abraham, God told Abraham that He would make him a great nation and from him all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:2–3). This promise probably didn’t make sense to Abraham at the time, because he and Sarah had no children, and, well into their senior years, they thought they were too old.

In chapter 16, Sarah still hadn’t had a child yet, so she took matters into her own hands and decided that Abraham should sleep with her maid, Hagar. Abraham and Hagar had a son named Ishmael. God allowed it, but He did not ordain it. You must be mindful that when it comes to the promises of God, you shouldn’t take matters into your own hands.

In chapter 18, God made Abraham and Sarah a specific promise—one that didn’t make sense. The odds were against them because of their age; Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 years old. By this time, it had been 13 years since God made His original promise in chapter 12, and they had seen no signs of their earlier promise. What do you do when you’ve waited so long and somebody is telling you that the impossible is still possible? What do you do when the promise just doesn’t make sense?

You’ve got to decide in your heart not to give in to the doubt. I know that’s easier said than done. I’ve had to learn the hard way that doubting hinders the progress to your promise, paralyzes you, and keeps you stagnant. It makes you want to take control rather than trust God with your life. However, when you replace doubt with faith, you give God something to work with.

It’s easy to be skeptical when the odds are against you. But I encourage you to trust God to keep His Word. When you replace doubt with faith, trust that God will do His part and release the blessing. You have to believe that there is absolutely nothing too hard for God to do!