"Is Anything Too Wonderful for God?"
By Dr. Mickey Anders
First Christian Church
Pikeville, Kentucky
June 13, 1999
Text: Genesis 18:9-15, 21:1-7
Fred Kane, pastor of a Methodist church in Hillsboro, Oregon recently posted this witty re-telling of the Abraham and Sarah story on an Internet discussion group:
We've got old Terah and his clan going forth from Ur of the Chaldeans on their way to Caanan. Only they never make it that far. They're on their way to LA and the truck breaks down in Barstow. So they stop there and try to make a life.
Terah dies and now we've got Abraham and Sarah all settled down in Haran and God just says, "Pack up your stuff and go." And they do it. And Abram was 75! He was collecting social security. He and Sarah had a nice place out there at Sun City - Barstow. They could get into Las Vegas now and then for those free drinks and shows.
Anyway, God just says, "Pack up and go." And they do it. God is going to bless them so that they will be a blessing for others. And if you're going to be blessed and be a blessing you need kids. You need descendents. Your nursery needs to be full. And Sarah and Abraham don't have any rugrats yet - at least none of their own. And it isn't going to happen in Barstow or Spokane, Peoria or Tulsa or anywhere else people hunker down all safe and secure in the familiar and expected. Not when you're in your seventies! It's going to take something really new and really special for this whole thing to come off. And they "set forth to go to the land of Caanan."
It's a wild story. There's the oak of Moreh, the fleshpots of Egypt, the deserts of the Negeb, a place called Sodom. But, Abraham and Sarah still don't have a child. Living there on the brink of really entering into a Promised Land they have no child, no real promise, no destiny.
And God takes Abraham out one night and together they stare up into the sky and the voice says, "Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them. So shall your descendents be." And Abraham believed all of this. He really did. But, the years went by and as hard as they tried there was no child. Until finally it became a kind of family joke.
It had been a long adventure from Ur and Haran to The Oaks of Mamre. But, life was all right. The Oaks was a good place for old age. The kitchen turned out a fair meal. The activities director was a breath of fresh air. Why, that Hagar brought more excitement into Abraham's tired old life than Sarah could ever imagine. And the tired old wife's heart was broken.
Three men came to The Oaks one day. They were on a mission from God. Dressed in black suits with white shirts and neat, simple ties. They were passing out tracts, I think, there at The Oaks in the activity center. And one of them saw that Sarah was missing and went looking for her.
For Sarah didn't come down for those social activities anymore. She stayed there in their apartment and knit baby blankets to be sold at the annual Christmas sale down at the Methodist Church.
He caught old Abe outside their door and asked about Sarah. "She's inside knitting," said the old man.
"Well tell her I'm coming back in the spring and she's going to have a baby boy."
Be careful when three men come to your place. Something new and surprising might happen to you come spring.
Now old Sarah had heard talking in the hallway and listened there at the door. And when that man said he would be back in the spring and that she was going to have a baby boy, she laughed and she did what we all do. She talked to herself. "After I've grown old and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?"
And the man turned to Abraham and looked him in the eye and said, "Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for God?"
Sarah flung open the door. "I did not laugh!"
"Oh, yes you did."
And she slammed the door in anger and in fear and every time she recalled that look on his face and the way he said, "Oh, yes you did," she shivered. But the shivers didn't last. They melted into laughter. After all, who would believe that man who appeared that day at The Oaks. What a clown.
And the next spring she thought she saw that man one day outside The
Oaks as she sat there knitting her baby blanket. She got up to go
out onto the balcony to get a better look as he rode away down the street.
And there was this little kick in her belly, this little movement and she
turned to Abraham and said, "Put your hand here. You can feel Isaac
kicking again."
This is a wonderful story that has many themes. We could choose to talk about the promise of a son, about the frustrations of waiting so long for a baby to come into the family, about the founding of the nation Israel, about Sarah's impatience with God, about Sarah's laughter, about Abraham's hospitality, or about the three visitors.
But I want to focus on verse 14 because it's a verse we give lip service to, but don't really believe. The messengers from God (who are apparently angels) say in verse 14, "Is anything too difficult for God?"
Some versions translate this passage, "Is anything too wonderful for God?" The Hebrew word can be translated either way, "difficult" or "wonderful." I like "wonderful." Is anything too wonderful for God?
This idea is pursued is several other places in the Bible. In the first chapter of Luke, the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her that she will bear a child who will "reign over the house of Jacob forever." She replies, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel says, "For nothing will be impossible with God."
Notice that, in both of these cases, angels make this magnificent statement about the nature of God. It is one thing for humans to make grandiose claims for God; humans might be wrong. But when angels make claims for God, we need to stop and take notice. They have inside information that humans don't have. And in these two passages we find angels twice repeating the same basic message, "Nothing is impossible for God!"
And if it's one thing for humans to make claims for God, and even more valid when angels make claims for God, we should really take notice when Jesus makes claims for God. And he makes this same claim - twice!
In the story of the rich young ruler, which is told in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, Luke 18:27), Jesus makes reference to a camel passing through the eye of a needle, and concludes, "For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible."
Then we find the same statement coming from Jesus in the scene in the garden of Gethesemane as recorded in the gospel of Mark, chapter 14. Here Jesus throws himself on the ground and says, "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want" (14:36).
Then the apostle Paul picked up the same theme in Philippians 4:13, when he says, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
Listen again to these words and ask yourself if you really believe them.
"Is anything too difficult for God?"
"For nothing will be impossible with God."
"For mortals, it is impossible, but for God all things are possible."
"Father, for you all things are possible."
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
These verses amount to overwhelming Scriptural evidence that nothing is impossible with God. And most of us would be quick to make this verbal affirmation. "Sure," we say, "nothing is impossible for God." But I believe most of us just don't believe it deep in our bones.
We say, "God may be able to do anything, but I can't. God may have changed Sarah's life even in her old age, but my life can't change."
More often than not we limit ourselves by negative thinking. We say we are too old for our lives to change, forgetting that Abraham and Sarah were in their seventies when God changed theirs. John Glen flew into space when he was 77 years old. And just this week former President George Bush celebrated his 75th birthday by jumping out of an airplane at 12,500 feet. If these men can accomplish these feats in their seventies, then surely God can still do great things with you no matter what your age. You don't get too old for God to change your life.
And you can never be too young. I saw a great example of the right kind of attitude when we were working on the Habitat for Humanity House last Thursday. Blake Robinson, Jim Brown, my son Will and I were the only ones there from our church working that day, but fortunately we had help from ten students from the Kentucky Youth Academy.
Will and I had the privilege of working with Larry, Michael, and Greg while we put up fiberglass insulation in the ceiling. I don't know what these boys were like before they got to the Academy, but now they are about the most polite young men I ever met. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard so many "Sirs." They said "Sir" after every sentence and sometimes before and sometimes in the middle of it. They use the word "sir" every place most teenagers would use "like." "Sir, can I, sir, help you with that, sir?"
As we worked, I enjoyed getting to know the boys. Larry was 17 years old and wore a shirt that said, "Graduation," which means he will soon be leaving the academy. When I asked his plans, he spoke of college and preparation to become what he called a "historical teacher, sir!" He told me about the book that he is writing. In fact, he has already finished the third chapter, sir!
It didn't take ten minutes to learn that Larry was a natural leader. The other kids gravitated to him and yielded to him in a manner that showed great affection and respect. As we talked, I learned that Larry was kicked out of his mother's house when he stole a car. But now his life has changed and he was quick to give credit to the Lord.
While we stapled insulation to the ceiling, I asked 15 year old Michael what he was going to do with his life. Most kids will either name a profession or tell you they haven't decided. But Michael shot right back at me with his surprising answer.
"Michael, what are you going to do with your life?"
"Change it, sir!"
I was so impressed that these kids are vividly aware of the need to change their lives, and somehow they have the confidence and the faith that they can change it. What a gift. You see, when asked the question of our Scripture passage, "Can anything be too wonderful for God?", they give a quick answer, "No... sir!"
But most of us think we are stuck with life as we have known it.
In fact, we would join Sarah in laughing at the idea of our lives changing.
"What? Me? Have a baby? At my age?"
"What? Me? Control my temper?"
"What? Me? Read the Bible through?"
"What? Me? Forgive my enemies?"
"What? Me? Change my relationships?"
We need to hear these Scriptures that repeat the theme, "Nothing is impossible with God," and change our attitude.
In his book, Strengthening Your Grip, Charles Swindoll speaks of the importance of attitude when he says, "Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. The remarkable thing is, we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We can not change the fact that people act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude."
What is it in your life that seems impossible to change? What is that you have struggled with and tried and tried to fix, but just can't seem to change? All of us have those areas of our lives where we have just about given up on changing.
Can we learn from Sarah today? She had given up too. In fact, she was so old that the burst into laughter when the three men announced that her life would change.
Now I know that some things don't change, but perhaps today, our problem is one of attitude. We just haven't stopped to believe God. The meaning of faith is simply believing that God can even when we can't.
Sarah can get pregnant and become the mother to a nation.
Mary did have a baby even though she was a virgin.
A rich man can enter the kingdom of God.
God could have prevented the crucifixion even though He chose not to.
And the Good News is this. God can change your life today if you
will only have the attitude of faith and acceptance.