Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me? Jeremiah 32:27
This post is for people who have realized that they have made a mess of their lives and perhaps the lives of others. The Bible tells us that “man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7) and so it is, we move from trouble to trouble to trouble. Because of the fall, we are prone to sin, prone to do the wrong thing, prone to do the foolish thing, prone to do the very things we know will make us unhappy and miserable.
Sin does more harm than we ever imagine before committing it. One of the devil’s great deceptions is that he doesn’t allow us to see where our disobedience will ultimately lead or the harm it will do to us spiritually, to our lives, to our families and friends. Broken marriages, diseased bodies, lost trust, lost jobs, are just a few of the items in the pile of mess which is our lives.
By God’s grace, a person finally comes to the place where they begin to see the damage they have done through their actions (or lack thereof). Sometimes the realization of the mess can be overwhelming. At such times it is not uncommon for people to lose hope, to become convinced that nothing can be done to repair what they have broken. Some sadly choose to end their lives only to find that they have not escaped despair but in most cases, have entered a far more terrible, eternal, despair.
I can remember the time of my initial eye-opening. I can remember the despair. Even now though a Christian for over thirty years and a pastor, I look around and see the harm my sin and foolishness causes and I am apt to lose hope.
Despairing friend, do you believe you have made a mess that God cannot redeem? In the midst of your sadness and despair may I give you some counsel? At first it may seem out of place and a bit painful but it’s just what you need to hear. Read the verse at the head of this post, listen to the question God has asked: “Is anything too difficult for Me?” God is not really asking something here, He is telling us something. What He is telling us is that there is nothing that is too difficult for Him. “Anything” includes you and your mess.
My advice to you in the midst of your despair is that you not flatter yourself. Do you really think that you can break something to the degree that God cannot fix it? Do you think you can create a problem that is beyond His ability to solve? If you think you can, all I can say is that you must think an awful lot of yourself! Trust me…No scratch that, Trust God, you cannot create any situation that is too difficult for Him because nothing is too difficult for the Lord.
“No” you may insist. “It isn’t that I think He can’t help me, I just don’t think I deserve for Him to help me”. Well, that’s true. But God’s mercy and help have never flowed from our deserving them. Listen to God…
Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me. Psalm 50:15
God has actually commanded us to come to Him in our trouble. Why would He do that if He didn’t intend to respond mercifully? So put away thoughts of your worthiness or His willingness.
Before going, let me help you further by telling you that God doesn’t deal with symptoms but with causes. Our messes flow from the condition of our hearts and our relationship with God. If you just want God to take away your mess but don’t want to repent and commit yourself to obeying Him, then I have no hope to offer you.
But, if you are willing to acknowledge that your mess began with you, that the cause underneath is your heart and you want God’s forgiveness and presence in your life than I can promise you on the authority of God’s Word that He will forgive you (1 John 1:9). God will take your mess and redeem it and even cause something wonderful to come from it. This doesn’t necessarily mean that God will take away every consequence of your actions or excuse you from things you need to do to put things right but He will take the mess and reshape it and create from it something that you cannot even imagine.
Yes, God can do this. He will do this. “The things that are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27). Don’t confuse impossible for you with impossible for God.
