Think of all the hard things
there are in your life. Susanna Spurgeon, Words of Cheer
and Comfort for Sick and Sorrowful Souls, 1898. Ah, Lord God, behold, you have
made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched
arm. There is nothing too hard for
you. Jeremiah 32, 17. Then the word of the Lord came
to Jeremiah, I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything
too hard for me? Jeremiah 32, 26 and 27. Dear reader, your difficulties
and trials may not be similar to those of the weeping prophet,
but they are very real and seemingly insurmountable to you. And it
is a fact that, of yourself, you can neither overcome nor
endure them. So I want to remind you that
the Lord's hand is not shortened, that what was true of His power
in Jeremiah's time is as certainly true today. and that whatever
present hardship may press upon you, or whatever burden may be
weighing you down, you, yes, you may look up to Him with confident
faith and say, there is nothing too hard for you. Oh, the blessed
peace which such an assurance brings! I do not know what your
particular sorrow or hardship may be, but I do know that, whatever
its nature—cruel or bitter or hopeless—it is as nothing to
Him. He is able to deliver you, as
easily as you can call upon Him for support and help. Now dear
friend, think of all the hard things there are in your life.
Hard circumstances, difficult duties, grievous pains, sore
struggles, bitter disappointments, harsh words, sinful thoughts,
a hard heart of your own, a hard heart in others, Gather all these
and many more together and pile them one on another till you
have one great mountain of afflictions, and your God still calmly asks
the question, Is there anything too hard for me? When our hearts
are weary of life's cares and crosses, when our courage flags
because of our helplessness, and we cry out with a patriarch,
all these things are against me, what a support and stronghold
is the fact that our God has all power in heaven and on earth. There is nothing too mighty for
him to manage, there is nothing too insignificant to escape his
notice. Jeremiah's faith sees no obstacles,
stumbles at no hindrances, faints under no burden, shrinks from
no responsibilities. because he realizes the sublime
omnipotence of God, and fortifies himself by calling to remembrance
his outstretched arm in the creation of the heavens and the earth.
Cannot we do likewise? I took up a book in a leisure
moment the other day, opened it carelessly, and this is what
I read. It is a scientifically proven
fact that this great globe on which we live spins around on
its axis at the rate of a thousand miles an hour and propels through
space in its orbit at a speed immensely greater. The thought
of this seemed almost to take away my breath. Was I calmly
and constantly living in the swirl of such a stupendous miracle
as this? then surely I could say, Ah,
Lord God, there is nothing too hard for you. My little troubles
and afflictions, how small they must be to you! Yet with what
tender compassion do you stoop from guiding the worlds in their
courses, to support and comfort the hearts of those who fear
you. Never let us give up in despair
while we have such a God to trust in. If there is a great mountain
of sorrow or difficulty in your way, dear friend, do not be cast
down by the darkness of its shadow. Your God can either make a way
for you through it, or He can guide you around it, or just
as easily, He can carry you right over it. There is nothing too
hard for Him. Expect Him to make the crooked
things straight, and to bring the high things low, and while
you keep humbly at His feet, He will work wondrously, and
you shall see His salvation.