Is anything too hard for me?
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?”Jeremiah 32:27
Reflection
The scene is strange. Jerusalem was surrounded by the army of Babylon, about to fall, and Jeremiah was imprisoned in the court of the guard. In that situation, God tells him to buy a field, a piece of land that, with the city being taken, seemed worth nothing. Jeremiah obeys, but then goes to pray, full of questions. And God answers with a question: "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?" The question is not to inform God, but to lift Jeremiah up.
Notice that, in his own prayer, shortly before, Jeremiah had declared that nothing was too hard for God. He had said the right words. Now God returns the question, as if to say: "You said this. Do you really believe it?" Sometimes God brings us back to our own statements of faith to see whether they hold when the situation tightens. Speaking well of God in calm times is easy. The siege is the place where faith is tested and where it discovers whether it is true.
The expression "God of all flesh" shows that He is not only the God of Israel or of a special group: He is God of all human beings, and of all situations. The illness doctors do not know how to treat, the marriage that seems lost, the distant child, the addiction, the debt, the fear: nothing is out of the Lord's reach. That does not mean He will do exactly what we ask in the way we want. In Jeremiah's case, the answer included judgment and, afterward, restoration: fields were bought again in that land. But it does mean that no human impossibility is an impossibility for God.
Today, write down a situation you consider "impossible". Beside it, write the question: "Is there any thing too hard for the Lord?" Pray with it. Then, like Jeremiah, take a step of faith consistent with hope: a small action, an attitude of obedience, a word of trust. It is not pretending there is no siege; it is acting like someone who knows the God they are speaking to. What is a wall for you is, for Him, open space.
Prayer
Lord, God of all flesh, nothing is too hard for You. I hand over to You the situations that seem impossible to me. Strengthen my faith when the siege tightens and teach me to take steps of obedience and hope. May I trust in Your power and Your faithfulness, whatever the answer. Amen.
Put it into practice
Write down a situation that seems impossible, pray with the question "Is there any thing too hard for the Lord?" and take a small step of faith today consistent with hope.
To reflect on
What situation have you been treating as impossible, and what would change if you handed it to a God for whom nothing is too hard?
Bible text: King James Version (public domain).