The Holy Scripture is replete with stories that reveal that there is no hopeless situation with God. Both the Old Testament and New Testament contain records of God’s awesome power at turning hopeless situations around to situations of hope and praise. Some of these testimonies will be revisited for our encouragement to hope in God in whatever situation that seems difficult and hopeless. May every weak hand be lifted and feeble knees strengthened by the testimonies of these men of like passion in the name of Jesus.
Abraham and Sarah…
“And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? And shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?” (Gen.17: 15-17).
“And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” (Gen.18: 9-12).
The story of Abraham and Sarah is a very popular and familiar one. God had promised them a male child but the physical and physiological states of their bodies made the promise of God too good to be true! Both Abraham and Sarah as we have seen in the passage had concluded themselves hopeless as far as child-bearing was concerned. And the reason was not far-fetched- both of them at this time had become very old and well stricken in age. Worse enough, it has ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of all women.
In all honesty, from all physical indication, the hope of child-bearing was gone. It’s common knowledge that fertility does decrease with age no matter how well you take care of yourself. “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”, (including child-bearing), says the Preacher. No matter how strong one’s desire to have children, there is a time frame within which that desire can be fulfilled. For Mrs Sarah and Mr Abraham, this time and season had elapsed for them. Humanly and medically speaking they were very hopeless.
But in such a hopeless condition and situation, God came with the promised hope of a child! Neither of them believed it! Their own bodies “being dead” had concluded them hopeless. Public opinions had concluded them hopeless. Medical report had concluded them hopeless. They also have concluded themselves hopeless. It was indeed a hopeless situation! If at all there was anything to hope for, it was “hope against hope”. In fact, it was this hopeless situation that gave rise to the self-arranged birth of Ishmael by Hagar!
But over and against this hopeless situation, God came with the promise of a male child throughthis same hopeless couple! On hearing the promise, both of them laughed… I imagine a situation where Abraham and Sarah were discussing and saying: “So this God we are dealing with is this humorous and funny, hahahaa…” They took God as One Who sometimes jokes with His Word. They both must have felt that God must have come to make them laugh away their sorrow of a long standing barrenness. As far as they were concerned, it was just too good to be true! And if at all, it must be through other agents.
So when God saw their hopeless reaction, He responded with the rhetoric question: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” The obvious answer of course is NOT! But let me press a pause for now on Abraham and Sarah as I direct the same question to you. Is anything also in your life too hard for the LORD? Before you give a superficial, religious answer or conclusion, here are some facts to help give base to your answer: In the beginning, “when the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the deep”, this God, created the heaven and this wonderful and intricate universe! I mean when the earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness and an inky blankness, God created the Heavens and the Earth- all you now can see and all you cannot see! Therefore, is anything, especially in your own life too hard for the LORD?
This same God, when no man had yet existed on the surface of the Earth, “the LORD God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”! What a miracle! So once again I ask you, is anything in your life too hard for the Lord to do? The same question I ask you now was originally asked by the Lord. It is therefore God Who is asking you too today, “Is anything too hard for the LORD to do?” When the children of Israel were trapped against the red sea and the blood-thirsty Egyptian army, held between the devil and the deep blue sea; and there apparently seemed not to be any hope of survival; the Israelites thought they were completely doomed! Even the enemy army was happy because to them, the Israelites were trapped and entangled… There and then, the Lord intervened! “…and the LORD cause the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right, and on their left.” There was no apparent way of escape, but the Lord opened up a dry path right through the middle of the sea! And if you have ever been to the sea, you will marvel at the awesomeness of this God!
Shortly after this encounter, “And all the congregation of the children of Israel journey from the wilderness of sin…and there was no water for the people to drink.” This was another hopeless junction of ‘no water’ but this God once again provided water out of the rock! Is there any lack in your life at present and the hope of supply seems dead, the One Who brought out water out of the Rock is asking you today, “Is anything too hard for me to do?”
So then the Lord said to Sarah, “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” After asking this heart-searching question, God now proceeded to give a prophetic promise of hope that in the next nine months that it takes for conception and gestation, Sarah shall have a son! Did God do it or was God only a sweet Talker as they supposed? The story is not finished: “And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.” Halleluiah! This is very exciting to me! It was Sarah (who had stopped menstruation by reason of age) and Abraham (whose body also had become sexually inactive) that came together as reactants for the baby product! “Ah, Lord God, Thou has made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing to hard for thee.” Hear this, if you are not hopeless, the seemingly hopeless situation will turn around for good for you. For YOU who are reading this article and you have been expecting the fruit of the womb over a long period of time, I declare unto you this prophetic word of hope that in the next nine months, you will carry your miracle baby in the mighty name of Jesus! Believeth thou this? Blessed are YOU that believe, for there shall be a performance of that which was spoken!