Is Anything too Hard for the Lord?

Do you prefer things to be easy or hard? Now that's kind of a difficult question isn't it? I guess it would all depend on what you were talking about? If we are talking about a test in school or doing your income taxes, well we would prefer if those were easy. What about a puzzle? Sometimes we like a challenge. OK, so the question could really go either way, but in general, what do you prefer? I think most of us would prefer if things were easier instead of harder. After all, that desire for things to be easy is what motivates a lot of great inventions and technology. Would we have invented cars, if we thought that walking was just easy enough? Or airplanes if driving were easy enough? If you are like me then you are still looking forward to the days of flying cars? Why? Because it is easy.

Our lesson from Genesis has a great question in it. Is anything too hard for the Lord? That's the question. The story takes to the oaks of Mamre. We are about twenty miles south of Jerusalem. And it is in the heat of the day, which means that it is really, really hot. Abraham is sitting at the door of his tent.

Abraham is a great guy. He started out as Abram. Living in the land of Haran. Haran was in modern day Iraq. Abram was not a follower of God, not yet at the time that he was called by God. And yet, God out of his grace and mercy calls Abram to leave the idolatry, and the land and security of his fathers, to go to a place where God would show him. And just like that Abram gets up and goes. Funny thing about Abram's name by the way, it means "exalted father." Know why that is funny? Because Abram has no children. And so at the very, very young and tender age of 75 Abram goes.

Sometime later his name is changed to Abraham, which means, "Father of many." And by the time that he is 99 he has one son, but this was through his wife's servant and not his wife Sarah. So our "Father of Many" is really still only a Father of one.

So Abraham is sitting at his tent. It was how you kept cool during those hot parts of the day. He lifts up his eyes and behold there are three men standing in front of him. He sees them and he gets up and runs to meet them. Now that is kind of significant. The Hebrew of this tells us that they kind of showed up suddenly. And the fact that Abraham runs to meet them, well it is a little undignified for a man his age, so it must be that there is something about this visitor.

In fact, there is. Because the text tells us that it was the Lord who appeared to Abraham there. So Abraham runs to meet his guests and bows himself down before them and invites them to stay. Now hospitality in this culture and at this time was a big deal. It was very important to show good hospitality. So Abraham offers some water and some bread and his offer is accepted.

So Abraham has a meal prepared that is lavish. It is way more than three people could ever eat, but remember, this is the Lord and two of his angels. These are important guests who deserve nothing less than the best. So he has three seahs of flour made into cakes. This is roughly 7.3 liters. He had a calf prepared in order to provide meat. This was extremely rare. The meal is completed with curds and milk and Abraham serves his guests and waits while they eat their meal.

They ask where Sarah, Abraham's wife is? "She is in the tent." He tells them. It was customary in that culture for the women to not eat with the men, but to eat after them. The Lord says, "I will return this time next year and Sarah will have a son.

Sarah is listening from behind the tent door and do you remember what she does? She laughs. Now Abraham isn't that old. He is only 99. And Sarah is quite a bit younger than he is, she is 89. Can you imagine finding out at the age of 89 that you are going to have a child? What would you do? I'm 31 and I can't imagine having another one. For Sarah, there really isn't even the issue of wanting or not wanting, she certainly wants a child. But at the age of 89, it is a biological impossibility. Wouldn't you laugh too?

But the Lord says, "Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return next year at this time and Sarah will have a son." Is anything too hard for the Lord? That's the question of the day, and it is a good question too. But it is also one of those questions where knowing the answer and living according to the answer are two different things.

Because this is one of those questions where we know that it is true. We know that nothing is too hard for the Lord. Really, nothing. Our God is the creator of the entire universe everything that we can see, and even all the stuff that we can't see. Our God has defeated the powers of sin and death through Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Our God has made us his own dearly loved adopted sons and daughters through the waters of holy baptism. Nothing is too hard for God.

And yet, even though we know it, for some reason, we find that it is really easy to live life as if that were not true. So we worry. We panic. We get frantic. We are not the only ones. We are in good company. Sarah, when confronted with her laughter, denied it and said, "I didn't laugh." It was almost as if she were a little kid trying to stay out of trouble.

I'm not talking about small insignificant things here. I'm talking about big stuff. Like, what do you do when the money is gone and yet the bills are due? What do you do when your relationship is really struggling and that awful "D" keeps coming up? What do you do when the medical test results come back and you are suddenly face to face with your worst fears? What do you do when you are struggling with an addiction, or depression? These are very real issues. And while we know that nothing is too difficult for the Lord, sometimes it is very hard to reconcile what we know with what we seem to be experiencing.

Is anything too hard for the Lord? The answer is no. It really is not. That is the good news in all of this. It is not too hard for the Lord. Nothing that we could ever possibly face in this life is too hard for the Lord. Now he may not show us the solution in the timing that we would like. He may allow us to be pressed a little harder than we would be comfortable with. But nothing that we would ever possibly face in this life is too difficult for the Lord.

Our God is faithful. He always, always keeps his promises. So we can take our problems, all of our problems to the Lord. We can run to him knowing that he will provide for everything that we need to support our bodies and lives. The one who has paid the price for our sins. The one who has restored us back to himself. The one who gives us life that never ends. Nothing is too hard for him. He will see us through. He kept his promise to Sarah. Within the year she had a son. Can you imagine giving birth at the age of 90? And then having to go through the terrible twos when you are 92? And do you remember the name of her son? Isaac. Isaac means "laughter."

The story of Abraham is important for the life of the church. God set Abraham apart, God blessed him, so that Abraham could be a blessing to others. God told Abraham that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed. And indeed they are, because through Abraham's family comes Jesus, the savior of the world. There is no better way for the nations to be blessed, and yet that is not the only way that the nations are blessed.

Because the people of God, the children of Abraham, are also in world in order to show the world who God is, and what it is like to live life in relationship with him. Because our God is a God of relationships. He is actively about the work of reconciling the world to himself, and he includes you and me, his people, children of Abraham, in this work. It is a great privilege and blessing. Isn't it wonderful news to know that no matter what you are facing, no matter how much the evidence around you seems to tell you that it is too difficult for God, isn't it great to know that it really is not? And we all know people who could really use that good news in their lives too.

Our God is a God of relationship. And he lives that with us. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier. This story of Abraham and his guests is the story that is used in the icon of the Holy Trinity painted by Rubleov in the 15^th Century. Now as Lutherans we don't approach icons in the same way as our Easter Orthodox friends. But they are certainly beautiful art, and a picture is worth a thousand words. So allow me to unpack this for you a little bit and to show us a little something about our God…

In our text this morning we saw the Lord come to Abraham. In our lives too our God comes to us. Good reason to be sure to greet those strangers, the author of Hebrews says that in showing hospitality some have entertained angels and didn't even know it. But our God also comes to us in sure, certain and unmistakable ways. He comes to you and me through the hearing of his word. He comes to you and me through baptism and holy communion. These are means where we do not have to guess, where we do not have to wonder, but we can be sure and certain that our God comes to us just as certain as he did to Abraham and Sarah.

This God who was faithful to them, will also be faithful to you and me no matter what is going on in our lives, no matter what challenges we are faced with. Nothing is too difficult for our God.

May this great truth be evident in your lives, and may you always be comforted and strengthened by the great presence of our great God in your life. Because nothing is too difficult for him. Amen.