Week Two - Day FOUR: Anything Too Hard
READ: GENESIS 18:1-15
TODAY'S FOCUS: Genesis18:14a
Is anything too difficult for the Lord? (Common English Bible)
Well, that rings a bell. Reading through today’s text brings to mind a sentence from my July 13 post: God is reminding me that God can do anything God wants.
On a sweltering day, too hot to do much of anything else, I sometimes find myself sitting in the doorway. Something about that space creates a needed feeling of moving ventilation. Surrounded by arid desert air, the home entryway is where we find Abraham – sitting in his doorway as the three visitors arrive. Leaping into action, he leaves the thought of heat behind and moves directly into hospitality. He receives them well, welcomes them well, provides for them well, and listens to them well.
Sarah, however, snickers as she overhears the visitors speak. To her, the truth is as dry as the air that encompasses her. Her willingness to believe is dehydrated; the impossibility of their words masks the life-giving reality. As the Lord’s rebuke drenches her in truth, I can almost feel the movement of the Holy Spirit as a cool breeze before a gentle rain.
When I feel too old, too worn out, too parched to believe in the hydrating presence and power of El Elyon – God Most High, I return to Sarah’s reprimand. If God is capable of child-blessing a ninety-year-old woman whose womb is as dry and barren as a Middle Eastern desert, who am I to deny that I may also be blessed in my empty spaces? Is anything too difficult for the Lord? I think not.
God Most High, in my barren moments, bathe me in your Spirit and quench my questioning. Saturate my day with your truth, and flood my disbelief with the powerful storm of your love. Amen.
More to think about:
Revelation 3:20
READ: GENESIS 18:1-15
TODAY'S FOCUS: Genesis18:14a
Is anything too difficult for the Lord? (Common English Bible)
Well, that rings a bell. Reading through today’s text brings to mind a sentence from my July 13 post: God is reminding me that God can do anything God wants.
On a sweltering day, too hot to do much of anything else, I sometimes find myself sitting in the doorway. Something about that space creates a needed feeling of moving ventilation. Surrounded by arid desert air, the home entryway is where we find Abraham – sitting in his doorway as the three visitors arrive. Leaping into action, he leaves the thought of heat behind and moves directly into hospitality. He receives them well, welcomes them well, provides for them well, and listens to them well.
Sarah, however, snickers as she overhears the visitors speak. To her, the truth is as dry as the air that encompasses her. Her willingness to believe is dehydrated; the impossibility of their words masks the life-giving reality. As the Lord’s rebuke drenches her in truth, I can almost feel the movement of the Holy Spirit as a cool breeze before a gentle rain.
When I feel too old, too worn out, too parched to believe in the hydrating presence and power of El Elyon – God Most High, I return to Sarah’s reprimand. If God is capable of child-blessing a ninety-year-old woman whose womb is as dry and barren as a Middle Eastern desert, who am I to deny that I may also be blessed in my empty spaces? Is anything too difficult for the Lord? I think not.
God Most High, in my barren moments, bathe me in your Spirit and quench my questioning. Saturate my day with your truth, and flood my disbelief with the powerful storm of your love. Amen.
More to think about:
Revelation 3:20