What is God’s greatest challenge? You have probably shouted out the answer already—at least in your spirit: Nothing! There is no such thing as a challenge with God. He has no unsolvable problems, no dilemmas, no head-scratching issues, and certainly no worries. Jeremiah said it well, “O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!” (Jeremiah 32:17) Lean into that truth today—you will need it!
Going Deep // Focus: 2 Kings 7:1-2
Elisha replied, “Listen to this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord says: By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, six quarts of choice flour will cost only one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain will cost only one piece of silver.” The officer assisting the king said to the man of God, “That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!” But Elisha replied, “You will see it happen with your own eyes, but you won’t be able to eat any of it!”
What is God’s greatest challenge? You have probably shouted out the answer already—at least in your spirit: Nothing! There is no such thing as a challenge with God. He has no unsolvable problems, no dilemmas, no head-scratching issues, and certainly no worries. Jeremiah said it well,
O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you! (Jeremiah 32:17)
God himself told a childless couple, Abraham and Sarah, well into their nineties, that they would become the parents of nations. But they found that wild promise a bit much. So God had to remind them that he who created the universe with a mere word would have little challenge opening the womb of a very old woman,
Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son. (Genesis 18:14)
When Jesus’ disciples challenged him with the human impossibility of being made right with God, he agreed. But he then added that the impossibility of eternal salvation was no challenge to God.
Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible. (Matthew 19:26)
In this story from 2 Kings 7, there is a devastating famine going on in Israel. The suffering is untold, the desperation of the people is unspeakable—parents actually eating the bodies of their own children. The king is so disgusted with God—he misplaces the blame on the Lord rather than on his and his own people’s abandonment of God, as rebellious people are wont to do—that he wants to kill the next best thing to God, Elisha the prophet.
But in a great act of mercy, God tells the wayward king that by the next day, there will be plenty to eat in Israel. In fact, there will be so much abundance that it will cause deflation in the economy like the world has never seen. Of course, neither the king nor his entourage believed this was possible. So they issued the one challenge to God that the Almighty loves to take:
That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven! (2 Kings 2:2)
In other words, “that’s impossible; that’s not going to happen. Not even God could do that!” “Oh yeah,” God says, “watch this.” And he does it, just as he said.
Now the point I want to make is this: If God will do that for evil, rebellious people, how much more will he move heaven and earth—not a big deal to him; he’s just rearranging the furniture—for you, his dearly loved child. Perhaps you are facing an impossible challenge right now. Just know this: What is challenging for you is no big deal for God. He thrives on challenges, which are no challenges to him at all.
How so? God has no challenges!
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