08092026 Too Hard

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God of impossibilities. He is able to do everything that He determines to do.

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? Saith the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 8:6).

The word “marvellous” refers to something that is great, difficult, or wonderful. For someone looking forward at the scenario, it is too hard. If the scenario is somehow resolved, someone looking back would call it miraculous.

The word was used regarding Sarah’s having a son in her old age, translated “too hard.” It is used of the plagues brought upon Egypt that effected the exodus of the Jews, translated “wonders.” God uses the word to declare that nothing is too hard for Him. “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?”

Consider the spread of the gospel. Surely it was “too hard” for tradition-steeped Jews to accept something new. Yet on Pentecost, “about three thousand souls” were saved, “and the Lord added to the church daily.” Well, okay, the common people maybe, but it was “too hard” for the stubborn and powerful religious leaders to convert. Hmm. “A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” But never Gentiles! That would definitely be “too hard.” Enter Cornelius. “The Gentiles had also received the word of God.” But what about totally pagan and pantheistic peoples that lived far away from Israel and had no previous exposure to the God of the Jews? That would be “too hard.” The journeys of Paul and the other disciples demonstrate otherwise. From Rome, Paul writes, “All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household.”

Since that time, God’s message of salvation has continued to spread into all the world, reaching people and places that man declared “too hard.” How could the gospel ever be effective in oppressive places like China, Russia, and North Korea? How could the gospel reach superstitious and religion-controlled places like Burma and India? Surely Dark Africa would be too hard. Or the islands with cannibals and headhunters. How many people failed to establish any foothold in the New Hebrides Islands? And the Muslim world? Impossible. What about the “uncivilized” and uneducated native tribes of the Americas? The drug culture in New York City?

“Fun” is not the right word, but it would be fun (rewarding, inspiring, breath-taking) to trace out some of those stories. Because God did take His message of salvation to all of those impossible peoples and places. In some cases, only a small minority accepted His truth, and in others, great awakenings came that changed the whole culture of that place. Because God has reached impossible people. God has reached impossible tribes and impossible countries.

Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). True, not every person will choose to believe. Not every country will turn in dramatic fashion. But some will believe. There is nothing too hard for God.

May God give you grace, patience, and power as you work with those who seem more resistant and less inviting. I pray that He will enable you to see the results of His salvation even where it seems “too hard.”

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA