Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I break to a prayer for attention to Genesis chapter 18 and reading
for our text, part of verse 14. The first part, which is a question. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? The whole verse continues, at
the time appointed, I will return unto thee according to the time
of life and Sarah shall have a son. Genesis 18, the first
part of verse 14. And I want to continue this evening
with the questions, the use of questions in scripture. And last Thursday we looked at
the searching question It was given to Adam, where are thou? Its questions are used a lot
through the scripture. It forces us to consider an answer,
how we would answer, and the truths that are often implied
by the question. And so the question before us
this evening is, anything too hard for the Lord? I want to begin with the very
context that is here, and those things of which are not too hard
for the Lord, those things which are a miracle that the Lord did
in this account with Abraham. And the first thing is this,
that it was not too hard for him to enable Abraham and Sarah
to have children. Sarah passed bearing and yet
she was to have a child. You know Abraham, if we were
to go right back to Genesis 12, when the Lord brought him up
out of the Chaldees, there he gave him when he was 75 years
of age, that promise concerning his seed. And the Lord said to
him that his seed should inherit that land. It should become a
great nation, a great people. And yet at that time, he had
no child. And so then 11 years passed by. And you could really forgive
Abraham feeling, well, surely I must put my hand to this, and
the suggestion by Sarah that she take Hagar. And so Ishmael
was born. But the Lord said that Ishmael
was not to be the promised seed. That was not the line unto Christ. For another 14 years, had to
go by, from 13 to this time here, and then according to the time
of life, approximately another year, that Isaac was born when
Abraham was 100 years of age, 86 when Ishmael was born. 25
years. 25 years waiting for the promise and expectation that
the Lord would appear. What a wonderful thing if the
Lord granted us the same after 25 years here, which I complete
in a few weeks' time. Abraham had to wait a long while
and great exercise and burden that he had, but here Our Lord
says this, and I ask this question, is anything too hard for the
Lord? You know, in Hebrews 11, we have
Sarah recorded amongst the faithful, that by faith she conceives seed. And the Lord graciously, the
Holy Spirit, covers over her laughing, covers over her unbelief. and just sets before us in Hebrews
that she conceived seed. After this time, though she laughed,
yet the scripture record is she believed what the Lord said.
And may the Lord give us that same light, precious faith. The record here of Abraham is
a, and should be, a great encouragement to us. to lean upon the Lord
and upon His promises and upon what seems with us to be utterly
impossible. That is what they were brought
to here, impossibility. And then the Lord appeared. And
may we take courage ourselves from this account. Is anything
too hard for the Lord? No, not to give The promise seed
was not too hard. He could make the barren to bear. But then secondly, God appeared
as a man. We're told first in verse two
that three men stood by him. And when Abraham first speaks,
he says in verse three, and now my Lord, in capital L but lowercase. If I have found favour in thy
side, pass the word of God, I pray thee from my servant. But it's
not long before we find it is the Lord, as Jehovah, speaking
to him. And we read in verse 13, And
the Lord, Jehovah, said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah
laugh? Later on, at the end of this
chapter, we have Abraham pleading with the Lord for light in Sodom,
and the other two men, they went towards Sodom, and in the opening
verses of the next chapter, there came two angels to Sodom and
Eve. So those three, two angels, and
our Lord in the pre-incarnation appearance, of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ appearing as a man. And only God could do that. Only heaven could as he'd done
later on with Jacob. They wrestled a man with him
to the breaking of the day. His name was changed to Israel
because he wrestled with God and with men and has prevailed. And so we have later on that
wonderful miracle of Emmanuel, God with us, the promised seed,
not Isaac, but his seed's seed. Abraham saw my day and rejoiced
at it. There are many times where the
Lord appeared to Abraham, we could say, Abraham saw Christ's
day. So another thing that only God
could do, is anything too hard for the Lord, Why, Solomon, he
said when he dedicated the temple, the heaven and heaven of heavens
cannot contain thee, how much less this house that I have built. But will God in very deed dwell
upon the earth? It was a wonder to think that
that could be brought to pass. And yet we know the Lord did
bring it to pass. The third thing is the destruction
of Sodom. In the next chapter, the Lord
rained down fire and brimstone from heaven. He said what He
would do. He said that He would destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah. He did. He'd already said that
He would do in Noah's day. Noah preached of righteousness
for 120 years and yet the flood came. And we are told as well
that the heavens and the earth that now are They are reserved
unto fire, and the Lord will destroy them. We might look at
them and think how secure they are. They've continued for years
and years. But right through scripture,
we are reminded that when God says He will destroy, He does
destroy. At that time, He has set apart. And so with Sodom and Gomorrah,
completely destroyed it and the cities of the plain. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? No. In this account with Abraham,
it was not too hard to destroy Sodom as he said he would. But
then we have a fourth thing, and that is the deliverance of
Lot. And you know when the angels came to Sodom, Lot seemed very
enmeshed in it. His family was in it. tried to
reason with them, talk with them, he lingered, and the angel having
mercy upon him, he took him by the hand to bring him out of
Sodom. You know, it was a miracle that
the Lord could separate and does separate his people from the
Sodom of this world and from the iniquity and evil of this
world. At the first lot pitched his
tent towards Sodom, In this account, he's found in Sodom, not only
in it, but he's in the gate of the city, which is where the
elders sat, it's where those that judge sat. And there he
was, and yet God brought him out. He might feel to be so enmeshed
and so entangled with our sin, the sins of others, and maybe
the pull of relatives as well. We think of our Lord's ministry,
He says that if a man loved father or mother or child more than
him, he's not worthy of him. There's no wonder that Lot's
wife looked back, no wonder they lingered. But the Lord is able
to deliver in spite of those things that hold us fast. And so there are just in this
account alone, those four things, Is anything too hard for the
Lord? No, it is not too hard for the
Lord at all. He is able to do these things. I want to line up with the Lord's
help at three main points. Firstly, what is too hard for
the Lord? You might think it a strange
thing to say that, but there are things that are too hard
for the Lord. And then secondly, what is not
too hard for the Lord? And then thirdly, the appointment
of prayer in what the Lord does. But firstly, what is too hard
for the Lord? Scripture himself sets forth
those things that God cannot do. God cannot die. He is the eternal, ever-living
God. And though He can, in our Lord
Jesus Christ, lay down His life to take it again, yet God Himself
is a Spirit, and He is the eternal God, who never ceased to exist. So when we read, is anything
too hard for the Lord? He cannot die. When Paul writes
to Titus, he also says, that God who cannot lie. In all his scriptures, we are
assured of this, that there are no lies there. It is all truth. God is the true and living God,
and that which he writes is no lie. Satan's first temptation,
and Satan is a liar from the beginning, was to imply that
God had an ulterior motive in forbidding Adam to eat of the
fruit of the garden that was in the midst of the tree, in
the midst of the garden. And he would suggest that the
word of truth, the Holy Bible, is lies. The psalm there comes
to mind, and whether it was by design, by man, or Satan designed
it, I remember years ago, when I was 15 years of age, and there
was the funeral of the pastor's wife in Australia, and they rewrote
the words of the hymn, instead of immortal honours, it was immoral
on us, and we had to quickly change all of those M sheets. And I believe there was another
occasion, perhaps over here, where it was chained to his throne,
a volume of lies, instead of a volume lies, as in M4. And thankfully, in both those
cases, that they were found out before they actually had the
funerals. But God's Word is true and is
no lie and He cannot lie. We need to be very sure of that
because Satan will all the time, and men, will try to undermine
the Word of God. Peter says in his epistles that
we have not followed cunningly devised fables. and we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord. When Paul writes
to Timothy, his second epistle, he also says that another thing
that God cannot do is to deny himself. When our Lord was being
falsely accused, then he made this very clear to the Jews,
that he would not deny who he was, that he was the son of God,
that his father was in heaven. God cannot deny himself. And he could imply that as well. He cannot go contrary to his
word. He cannot deny or go contrary
to the inspired word of God, which is his word. Also, he cannot
go against his own will. Daniel says that he doeth according
to his own will in the armies of heaven. None can say unto
him, what doest thou? And we are used to, many of us,
when we make our plans, we follow that which is enjoined to us
in James. If the Lord will, we'll do this
or that. And when we pray, it is subject
to the will of God and all things that he has done. is according
to the counsel of His own will. So we cannot go against that. And right through the Scriptures
is the will of God that is unfolded and opened up to us. And when
we have that will opened up to us, we may be sure of this, that
what God cannot do is to go against His will. When we read, like
in John 17, Father, I will, that they whom thou hast given me
be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. And we know that God cannot go
against his own will. The last thing I'd mention is
that God cannot save a part from Christ and him crucified. However great and mighty God
is, to be able to speak the world into existence and to speak all
of creation, including man, He cannot, we say it with reverence,
He cannot, without Christ coming, without His precious blood being
shared, without Him dying upon Calvary and making atonement
for His people, and enduring the wrath of God and fulfilling
the law, he cannot just pardon a sinner. He could not, from
the high court of heaven, just choose a people and just determine
that he'd just brush over their sins. He would just forget about
them, that he'd just pardon them and bring them to heaven. No,
he cannot, he cannot say without that precious blood being shed. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. The Lord Jesus Christ testified,
for this cause came I into the world. It is determined that
Christ must suffer, must lay down his life, and to pardon
without God, without blood, never, in God. his purpose stood. And so there are those things
that we would reverently say that they are too hard for the
Lord. The Lord himself has made them
too hard for himself. And it is for our comfort to
realise that God himself cannot do those things. Bound by his He will give us that strength
equal to our day, and those blessings that He has promised, He will
do, He will perform for us. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? The question makes us really
consider and think and search the Scriptures. Are there things
that are too hard for the Lord? And if there are, why are they
too hard? And of what benefit and blessing
are they to the Church of God and for you and I? Is there anything
too hard for the Lord? May we find in those things that
are, that which is a comfort and strength to our souls and
in our path. Maybe it is the Lord has blessed
his word to us, given his word, we may plead it in prayer, rest
upon it, look upon it, and to know that God will not go back.
You won't just forget that word. Or to think of our sins, the
inequities and evils of our heart, and what they really deserve.
And when we remember that it is Christ that died, yea, rather
that he's risen again, that sitteth at the right hand of the throne
of God, the Lord has not forgiven, hardened and blotted out our
sins, without there being the debt paid, without there being
satisfaction, it has been done according to His holiness, according
to His faithfulness. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you." And really this is reminded. And every time we
observe and sit down at the Lord's table, the Church is reminded
Here is something that God couldn't do. He needed to shed that blood. And the church is reminded that
blood is shed, and Christ has died and risen again. And this
is the hope of the church of God. And before that ordinance,
of course, there's baptism, buried with him by death, in baptism
into death and risen again in newness of life. Those things
that the Lord has done, He has done because there could not
be salvation, there could not be deliverance from sin in any
other way but through that way. I want to look then secondly
at what is not too hard for the Lord. The first thing I'll mention
is not too hard for the Lord to fulfil His Word. Now the Lord
is giving His Word to Abraham here. He's telling them very
clearly that according to the time of life, Sarah thy wife
shall have a son. And that came to pass. And we think of the first promise
of the seed of the woman, to bruise the serpent's head. and
all that went on through those 4,000 years, through the flood,
Noah's time, Abraham's time, time in Egypt, time in Babylon,
all of those kingdoms, all of those nations, all those people
raised up, sometimes like in Hezekiah, seem to be extinguished,
or in the days of Athaliah, the line was to be broken, but no,
it is fulfilled and Christ does come, Isaac is born, and then
this seed, and the promise that God gave to Abraham in Genesis
22, in thee and in thy seed shall all nations be blessed, is not
too hard for the Lord to fulfill his word. When he speaks, he's
able to fulfill it. In direct contrast to us, How
many times can we think of when we've said we'll do a thing or
we'll go to a place and we haven't been able to fulfill it? Whether
we've been sick or something has happened and we couldn't
fulfill what we have said. But this is not too hard for
the Lord. With heaven and earth at His
command. It goes on in the hymn writer,
He waits to answer prayer. But He does, He has the hearts
of all men in His hand. And if you and I are resting
on His Word, and how important, how vital for the Church of God,
for the people of God, to rest upon the Word of God, if there
could be any doubt of it, or any thought that God was not
able to do what He said that He would do, of God be. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? It is not too hard for the Lord
to fulfil his word. He is able to fulfil his word. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my word shall not pass away. Hath he said and shall he not
do it? He will perform according to
his word. The second thing I mention is
not too hard for the Lord to quicken souls into spiritual
life. Sometimes we don't realize, or
don't really ponder, how dead a dead sinner is. When we're
born into this world in trespasses and sins, the sentence that we're
under is death. In the day that thou eatest thereof,
Thou shalt surely die, and the dead know not anything. Spiritually
dead, the natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." It
needs the almighty power of God to quicken a soul. The debt has to be paid, as we've
already mentioned, with Christ's blood shed. But even with that
debt paid, and may we all remember this, you know, there are some
that say, well, here is what Christ has done, now it's your
part. You must believe, and you must
accept Christ. And he is powerless, he hasn't
got power and ability, to save you until you accept him and
to invite him into your life, as if man was not quite dead,
that he has power to quicken himself. And yet we read in Ephesians
1 that it's the same power that was wrought to raise Christ from
the dead, as to raise a sinner from being dead in trespasses
and sins, into spiritual life and the apostles writing to the
Ephesians and to tell them that what they had experienced in
bringing them to believe and to trust in Christ and to be
brought to spiritual life was the almighty power of God. Is there anything too hard for
the Lord? Sometimes we're really tested
in this. You know, we think, somehow that,
well, those who are brought up under the sound of the truth,
they've been trained up, they're used to the doctrines, they're
not too hard that they should be converted. But if you perhaps
see someone in your town or village, and they're a swearer and curser,
they don't want the word, they despise the people of God, and
you think, can they be saved? Is it impossible? Some will say,
well, it's not worth giving such and such a person a Bible because
they couldn't be saved. Evidence such hostility, such
worldliness, impossible. But is anything too hard for
the Lord? John Newton, we've just sung
his hymn. Was it too hard for the Lord
to convert him and to change him? when we know our own heart
and our own condition, even though we were brought up under the
sound of the truth, and it wasn't too hard for the Lord to change
our heart and renew our will and turn our feet to Zion's hill. We need to be reminded of this. We often limit the Lord. Many
of us have siblings, we have loved ones, we have those that
we may look back and almost have given up on. as if they're too
hard for the Lord and the Lord can't change them and can't turn
them. There is anything too hard for
the Lord. That power to quicken and to
change is still there and we have with our Lord even upon
the cross and the dying thief to change him, to renew him. We have the account of Manasseh,
so wicked in all that he did and the Lord changed him. and
renewed him and brought him to repentance. Is anything too hard
for the Lord? That great act, that vital act
of quickening a soul into spiritual life, whatever be their condition
outwardly, whatever they have said or done, that is not too
hard for the Lord. The kingdom of God, stand assured, Yes, there are those that will
never be quickened because they're not the Lord's, but we do not
know the Lord's. We do not know the Lord's will,
and all we know is that while there is life, there is hope,
and the power of the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot
save. The third thing is this. It is
not too hard for the Lord to teach sinners in the way. Especially today, we think of
many that have not been brought up on the sound of the truth,
the language we use, the terminology, the words of the Bible, they're
not familiar with, they're not used to it at all. And those
things to which we've gradually learnt in our heads right from
a child, there are those that are coming at the Word of God,
and they know nothing, they know nothing of it at all. But the
scripture is very clear of this, that they shall all be taught
of God, all of God's children. They shall not teach every man
his neighbor, saying, know the Lord, they shall all know me
from the least unto the greatest. Those of you who've read that
beautiful little book of Suki Haile, you know how the Lord
brought her and taught her, line upon line, here a little and
there a little. in the way of experience and
through the Word of God, even though at first she couldn't
even read it herself, had to be taught by her young daughter
how to read. And yet the Lord opened her heart
and taught her. Do we, if any man lack wisdom,
do we feel it, do we feel our need of teaching? And the Lord's
time on earth was that as He was one, He taught them again
so much of His ministry. was to teach and instruct in
the way of the Lord. And we have that beautiful psalm,
Psalm 25, and it has this line, In a good
and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the
way. The meek will he guide in judgment,
and the meek will he teach his way. are vital to have a teachable
spirit, and yet the Lord gives that too. And we might look upon
others and think, well, they're not at all teachable. Or we might
think with ourselves, we're not teachable, we're not open to
being taught, and yet the Lord is able to do it. Is anything
too hard for the Lord? Our teachers naturally might
have those in their classrooms, that are very hard to teach,
but the Lord is able to do that. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Not too hard to teach the ways
of the Lord and to instruct them. I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou shalt go. But fourthly, to subdue our
iniquities. All of God's children will know
the conflict that Paul had in Romans 7, that the good that
he would, he did not, the evil that he would not, that he did,
and to know the working of iniquity and sin within, especially where
we know the truth, we know what is right, and yet find that contrary
stirring up within against it, and yet the Lord is able to subdue
those sins within. God is faithful. He will not
suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but
will, with the temptation, make a way of escape that you be able
to bear it. And God is doing that. He deals
with it. May it be a comfort to us who
know what sore temptations are, who know the depth and depravity
of our heart, the iniquities of our heart, that the Lord those billows, and say, Peace
be still. If the sun shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed. Freed at death from sin, but
while life endures well, from the power and from the dominion
over him. But then fifthly, to revive personally
and as a church. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? You might look at David with
his murder and adultery. Can David be revived? When brought through the parable
to acknowledge his sin, to repentance, we have in Psalm 51 that wonderful
psalm of repentance. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. Against thee the only Have I
sinned and done this evil in thy sight? And the Lord restored
him. He restored my soul, says the
psalmist. How vital that God is able to
do that. Not only quicken and teach in
the way, but when we backslidden, when we've gone away from him,
then he is able to restore. A case is not too hard for the
Lord. Sometimes we might look upon
our case as being too hard. We've made so many mistakes,
we've so marred everything, that nothing can be put right, nothing
can be restored. But is anything too hard for
the Lord? He is able to do that. He's able
to restore. Think of how he restored, dear
Peter, foretold before what he would do in denying his Lord
and restored him. I prayed for thee that thy faith
are not. We think of Jonah, running away
from the Lord, will not do the Lord's bidding and will not preach.
He's thrown into the sea, but the Lord provides the fish. The
Lord keeps him alive in it. What power had Jonah to bring
himself out, to restore himself, and to bring himself again on
dry land? None at all. The Lord spake unto
the fish, and the Lord sent him on his way again. Now be an encouragement
to us when we feel to have lost our first love or gone back from
the Lord. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Not only personally, but as a
church and people as well. When churches get very low, when
we get far off, whether it is numerically, or maybe error gets
in, maybe there's things that bring that church low. We've
only got to look at the letters to the seven churches in Asia,
a picture of the local church right down to the end of time.
Only two had nothing spoken against them. Many things spoken with
the aim of restoring them and the exhortations to them. And
he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. And so again, it is a reminder
to us and encouragement to us but we might look upon outward
things, and so it's impossible. You think of the church in the
Old Testament, the Jews themselves, how low they got in Babylon,
how low they were brought, and yet the Lord revived them again
and again, and the Lord came to that nation, and the Lord
is able to restore His people, And even we have foretold that
the Jews again shall be grafted in, and that when the fullness
of the Gentiles are brought in, then shall also the Jews be gathered
in again. The Lord has brought them already
back to their own land, and the Lord is able to do all that he
said he will do to the Jews. And the church that was in the
wilderness, and now we have the church of God, of all nations,
Jews and Gentiles. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring. And that reviving and
giving fresh life is all from the Lord. And we would go even
further. We think of the resurrection, Abraham, Jacob, all those that
have died. The Lord is able to resurrect
that. The same bodies, not another.
Job said very clearly that it was in his own flesh. After my flesh, worms destroy
the skin. Yet in my flesh shall I see God
for myself and not for another. And it is a blessed anticipation
that the Lord shall quicken the dead into life, revive them again. Is anything too hard for the
Lord, for us to even think how God could do that? To know where
the dust of His people are, those who have been buried at sea,
those that to the natural eye are not seen at all. And yet
the Lord knows, he shall gather his elect from the four corners
of the earth, the dead in Christ shall rise fast, and they shall
be united body and soul together. Dear Christian faith, it's full
of those things that rely upon a God that is able to do far
above all that we could ask or think and that which to us is
impossible. And when we are asked, is anything
too hard for the Lord, we should really examine and say, all through
our faith and all through the scriptures, those things are
set before us. They are too hard for us, they
are impossible, but they're not impossible with God. Sometimes
we can look at the big things We can say, well, we believe
in the resurrection, we believe in that, but then it comes to
smaller things, and we stumble, and we think that the Lord can't
do them, and we limit the Holy One of Israel. The children of
Israel, when they were to go up into the Promised Land, didn't
believe that God could overcome the Anakims and the Canaanites,
they were too big, and they went back and were going to get a
captain and go back into Egypt. And the Lord destroyed that generation
in the 40 years wandering in the wilderness. May we not limit
the Holy One of Israel. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? We say no. Except those things we mentioned
in the first place. But lastly, under this head,
Is anything too hard for the Lord to provide? With some of that in our middle
hand, the Lord will provide. There's many things in our lives
that we might think of how the Lord could provide. There's some
of those that listen to our services here from other countries, our
dear friends in Canada. They long to have a place of
worship of those that they may go and join with and seems an
impossible thing. But if in the Lord's will it
was so, it's not impossible. He's able to provide and sometimes
we may take for granted the great privilege of having a place of
worship, the brethren and those to worship with and to join with
and to see and commune But it is not too hard for the
Lord to provide that place of worship, and not only that, a
spiritual home here below. A place to live, naturally. It's
a great blessing to have a home, a roof over our head. Again,
many today may be tried of that, and the difficulty for our young
people in those beginnings in married life, where they shall
live, how shall they be able to have a home. And that's very
encouraging when we read of how wonderfully the Lord has provided
in some of those cases, as a reminder to us, the Lord is able to provide. I remember years ago when I first
came to this country in 1988, I remember looking in the estate
agent's window and being exercised that one day I'd return to this
land. And I saw the price of houses
over here and I thought, if ever we come back, we'll never ever
have our own home. And over in Australia, we tried
to get as close as we could to the house of God. And the closest
we could afford to buy was 20 minutes' drive away. Too expensive,
we couldn't. And yet the Lord brought us back
here, gave us a home, a five or ten minutes walk away from
the chapel, and to be able to buy it and to pay it off as it
is this day. The Lord is able to provide.
When we first looked at it, impossible. And we need to acknowledge that
the Lord has provided that place to live. We think of a job as
well-employment. Some of us can look back over
our lives and can see how wonderfully the Lord has provided the means
of earning our daily bread, and some in quite remarkable ways. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? And let us not say, well, that
is not a spiritual thing. That's a providential thing.
that is such a burden to me at the moment, but in those things
as well. God is a God of providence, and
the Holy Scriptures said this, the Lord's providence, and how
the Lord dealt with his people, and the Lord's people seeing
providence, his wonderful hand. Who so is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord. When we think of our young people
with a husband or a wife, how can the Lord provide? Is anything
too hard for the Lord? No, nothing. The Lord is able
to provide. The Lord brought myself, my dear
one, together from one side of the world to the other, and the
Lord has done many other great things to many of the Lord's
people, giving them a partner for life, one of the Lord's. It may be that there's things
I haven't mentioned this evening, but in your mind you're filled
in and you've joined in of those things in Providence, those things
in your life. It may be as you've come here
or listening this evening, there's things in your life and in your
mind that you've been viewing as too hard, impossible, difficult. Well, they are too hard for you
and too hard for me. that not too hard for the Lord
is anything too hard for the Lord. I want to notice then just
briefly in the last point, the third point, and that is the
appointment of prayer. Now in some cases, like with
Abraham, where the Lord just appeared to him, we don't read
at all that he's asked in prayer and In one sense, all of God's children
quickened into life, even like the Apostle Paul. He was a Pharisee. I can't imagine he was praying
to be converted or praying to love the Lord Jesus. He was persecuting
the people of God. But the Lord met with him and
dealt with him. But there are those things when
we have been quickened into life, when we do know the worth of
prayer, And the Lord has ordained prayer. He says, I will for this
be quite of by the house of Israel to do it for them. And it is
one of those things God has ordained. He is not powerlessly waiting
for his people to pray. He is not, as it were, having
all of this power and all of this mind. But until his people
ask, he cannot act. But he has ordained. And He has
said that even before they ask, He will answer. While they are
yet speaking, that He will be performing. And we see it in
the case of Daniel. We see it in the case of the
people of God like Hannah. For this child I prayed and the
Lord hath given me my petition that I've asked of Him. Again,
a barren womb. And those of us who know this,
should be much encouraged to ask of the Lord great things. Large petitions, says the hymn
writer, with thee bring. None can ever ask too much, for
his power is so great, we can't ever ask too much. He is able
to do so far above all that we can ask or think. And yet the
Lord is glorified in prayer. And when prayer is made in that
way, and then he works, then we can see the link, we can see
the answers that the Lord has given, and render thanks. Prayer is the way that God brings
his people into fellowship, communion with him. He'll have his people
with him in heaven, but here below, he'd have them walk with
him in prayer. It's these things that are too
hard for us and lay before Him, and to give
Him no rest, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. And when it's the last time,
you took one of those things that are too hard for you, and
the Lord gave you faith to believe this was not too hard for the
Lord, and you're able to bring it before the Lord, and maybe
again and again, ask of the Lord to perform and do it. Some of
us have already those things in the cup of salvation. We can
say like Hannah, for this we prayed. For this we asked of
the Lord. He has heard our petitions. He
has answered our prayers. There is a place for prayer. God appoints it. A God who is able to do these
great things. and he'd have his people believe
that it is so, and ask him to do these things. You think of
the centurion of whom the Lord said, I have not found so great
faith, no, not in all this world. And what did the centurion say?
Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. Not worthy for
thee to come under my roof, but he knew the power of the word,
of God. And may we have that same light,
precious faith. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? May this word remain with us
and may it encourage us in prayer and to wait upon the Lord. Amen.