Nothing Too Hard

Nothing Too Hard

Jeremiah prayed this prayer while buying a field — at God's instruction — in a city being besieged by Babylon. The deed of purchase would be sealed and stored as a symbol of future restoration: one day, people would buy fields in this land again. From a human perspective, the purchase was irrational: the city was falling. Jeremiah did it anyway, and prayed: 'Nothing is too hard for You.' He was not certain he understood what God was doing. He was certain about who God was. The field purchase was an act of prophetic faith — not in the political situation but in the character of the God for whom nothing is too hard.

Jeremiah 32:17 is remarkable for its context: the prophet prays it while making a transaction that makes no human sense, in obedience to God's instruction, in the middle of national disaster. His prayer doesn't ask God to explain Himself; it simply affirms who God is. 'Nothing is too hard for you' — the Hebrew ayn davar means 'no word (or thing) is too wonderful,' an echo of the angelic announcement at Isaac's birth (Genesis 18:14). What seems impossible to you today? What has been declared finished, sealed, lost, or impossible? The God who told Jeremiah to buy a field in a burning city and called it a sign of hope is the same God at work in your impossible situation.