Nothing is Too Hard for the Lord

Proverbs 1:8-19

Are you facing a seemingly impossible situation in your life? Is there an apparently irretrievable breakdown in a relationship? A serious health issue? An almost impossible challenge in your job? Is there a habit or an addiction that you are finding hard to break? Whatever challenges you may face in the year ahead, *nothing is too hard for the Lord*. Abraham was a hundred years old. His wife Sarah was ninety. God promised them a son. They said, in effect, ‘*That is impossible.*’ This is the context of the great rhetorical question: ‘*Is anything too hard for the Lord*?’ (Genesis 18:14). The answer is ‘No’. If Sarah could conceive when ‘already very old, and… past the age of childbearing’ (v.11), then *nothing is too hard for the Lord*. In each of the three great challenges we see in today’s passages we need to remember that *nothing is too hard for the Lord*.

Resist the temptations:

Jesus never tells us to withdraw from the world. The challenge is to be ‘in the world’ but not ‘of the world’. You are called to resist the temptations of the world around you.

The book of Proverbs gives practical advice on how to achieve that balance. Don’t let others entice you into sin: ‘If bad companions tempt you, don’t go along with them’ (v.10, MSG). ‘If they say, “Come along with us…”’ (v.11), do not to give in to them.

When I was practising as a barrister I noticed how many people were led into crime by others saying to them, ‘Come along with us.’

Don’t be enticed into sin by the fact that everybody else seems to be doing something – evading tax or travel fares, getting drunk or being promiscuous. Don’t follow the crowd: ‘Do not set foot on their paths’ (v.15). Something is not acceptable just because others are doing it. I can’t justify my actions on the basis that it is the way in which the world works.

In the end, if your ‘feet rush into sin’ (v.16), or you go after ‘ill-gotten gain’ (v.19a), it takes away your life. ‘When you grab all you can get, that’s what happens: the more you get, the less you are’ (v.19, MSG).

The enticement of the world is very strong. Yet, nothing is too hard for the Lord.