Is There Anything Too Hard for God?

Three times across the Bible the question is asked. Three times it is asked of someone in over their head. Three times the answer comes in the form of an event no one expected. Day 8 of the Bible in One Year plan.

By Cruzsilla Gutiérrez·April 30, 2026

The verse

"Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." Genesis 18:14 (ESV)

And the same question, repeated by God in Jeremiah's prison cell:

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:27 (ESV)

Context

Genesis 18 is one of the strangest scenes in the Bible. Three travelers visit Abraham in the heat of the day. He hosts them. One of them — clearly the LORD Himself — tells him that Sarah, almost ninety, will have a son. Sarah, listening from the tent, laughs. God's response is not a rebuke; it is the question that has carried God's people ever since: Is anything too hard for the LORD?

Jeremiah 32 returns to the same question, but with the prophet asking it of God. Jerusalem is about to fall. Babylon is at the gates. God commands Jeremiah to do something absurd: buy a field. As an act of confidence in the future. Jeremiah obeys, then prays a long prayer that includes the line: "Nothing is too hard for you" (Jer. 32:17). God answers: "Is anything too hard for me?"

Luke 1 closes the loop. The angel tells Mary she will conceive a child by the Holy Spirit. He explains: "For nothing will be impossible with God" (Luke 1:37). Sarah, Jeremiah, Mary. The same question across three thousand years.

What it means

The question "Is anything too hard for God?" is rhetorical. The Hebrew word translated "too hard" (pala) is also translated "wonderful." It is the same root used for the wonders of God in the Exodus. So the question carries a double force: nothing is too wonderful for the LORD to do. Wonder is not over for Him.

Three things follow. First, God's power is not exhausted by the size of the problem. Sarah's age, Jerusalem's siege, Mary's virginity — three impossibilities of different kinds. Biological, political, biological again. None caused God to say, "Sorry, that one is out of reach."

Second, God's power is bound by His character, not by His ability. The answer to "Can God do anything?" is yes. The answer to "Will God do anything?" is no — He won't lie (Titus 1:2), can't deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13), won't violate His own goodness. The Bible's confidence in His power is always tied to His character.

Third, the question is medicinal. When Sarah laughed, the question moved her from doubt to silence to faith (Hebrews 11:11). When Jeremiah was buying a field in a doomed city, the question reminded him whose plan he was acting on. When Mary heard it, she said, "Let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). The question itself is a means of grace.

And there's a final note. In all three cases, the impossibility was tied to a promise. Sarah was promised a son. Jeremiah was promised a return from exile. Mary was promised the Christ. Nothing is too hard for God is not a magic formula; it is the certainty under God's promises. It guarantees that what He has said, He is able to do (Romans 4:21).

How to apply it

1. Identify your "too hard." Name the thing that feels biologically, financially, or relationally beyond fixing. The question is asked of impossibilities, not of inconveniences.
2. Match it to a promise. The question goes with God's word, not with your wishes. Ask: what has God actually promised in this situation? Pray that, not your own preference.
3. Memorize Jeremiah 32:17 or Luke 1:37. Have the answer ready when the doubt comes back. It always does.
4. Do the absurd obedience. Jeremiah bought the field. Mary said yes. Sarah, eventually, named her laughter Isaac. Faith often takes a form that looks foolish from the outside.
5. Wait without putting Him on a clock. Sarah waited about a year. Jeremiah's promise of return took seventy. Mary's "yes" became Christmas nine months later. God answers in His timing, not yours.

Related verses

• Mark 10:27 — "All things are possible with God."
• Matthew 19:26 — "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
• Job 42:2 — "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted."
• Ephesians 3:20 — "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think…"
• Romans 4:21 — "Fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised."

Reflection

The question "Is anything too hard for God?" is older than the church and goes nowhere. Tonight it will be asked over hospital beds, behind closed office doors, in kitchens where the bills don't match the income. The answer the Bible keeps giving is not optimism. It is a Person. The God who held Sarah's son, who restored Jeremiah's people, who became Mary's child — that same God is the one to whom the question is addressed. Ask Him your version of it. Then watch what He does next.

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