Every Tuesday, we get our verse of the week to meditate and memorize. I want to encourage you to keep trying to focus on just one verse for the week. If you stay determined, the Word will take root in your heart. If you have failed with some of the previous verses, don’t get discouraged and quit, but continue to press on. This spiritual discipline is worth pressing through our failure! So free yourself of guilt and let’s go!
Nothing Is Too Hard
By Shirley Mitchell
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
Jeremiah 32:17
This week’s verse is from a book written by the prophet Jeremiah. In chapter 32 of Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar’s army was besieging Jerusalem. Zedekiah, king of Judah, had imprisoned Jeremiah in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah. King Zedekiah was a bit perturbed when Jeremiah prophesied that Zedekiah would be taken captive to Babylon. So he silenced the messenger so he could live in denial of the warning.
Jeremiah then purchased a field. God told him that even though the land was being overtaken by its enemies, one day houses, fields, and vineyards would again be bought in the land. The Babylonians may set the city on fire and leave the city in rubble, but God promised that one day the land would be worth purchasing again.
In response, Jeremiah praised God in his prayer in verses 17-25. He begins by saying, “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” Our God is sovereign, which means He rules over all and exercises His authority over it. He doesn’t make any decision for our lives on a whim, and He doesn’t overlook anything. Every decision He makes is based on His character. God looks at a particular situation and makes a decision of the outcome based on His godly objectives. A single decision can have many ramifications and affect multiple generations. He sees it all and chooses best. We can trust in His perfect character and limitless power. Because He loves us, we can keep our sanity and live through any tragedy. Our hearts will not be shattered unless there is some eternal purpose. Every temporary defeat has the promise to be turned into victory. Our enemies are only used to conform us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:28-29) and to accomplish God’s objectives.
Even though we may have had a hand in making the mess that our lives are in, God never brings discipline for the purpose of destruction. He disciplines to heal. Our God was powerful enough to make the heavens and the earth. He is involved so much that He knitted us together in our mother’s wombs by His outstretched arm. And it is not too hard to heal the wounds of your life and my life that hurt us the most.
So whenever our life situations look like we are being attacked from all directions or we feel like our world is burning and going up in smoke, let’s remember nothing is too hard for our God! He has the power to bring beauty from ashes. There has never been a life that is so much destroyed that it is too hard for Him to bring kingdom value from it. Nothing is too hard for our God! Nothing!
So let’s focus on this verse for the next week. Carry it with you wherever you go this week. Study it, pulverize it, and memorize it!
Memorization Reminders:
Please join me in memorizing these verses and implanting God’s thoughts into our minds. I’m expecting for God to radically change our lives if we do this. Redeem your time to make room for memorizing God’s Word. Take this verse with you wherever you go. Meditate on it, and pulverize it.
We are blessed to live in a time where we can have the Bible at our fingertips even through the internet or an actual Bible in our hands. Yet, this blessing can become a curse if we do not treat the Bible with such honor to savor every word of it as those through the centuries who have longed to have His Word so much. They had to memorize every Scripture they had ever been given because their own copy of the Scripture was not possible.
Most of us probably don’t memorize Scripture because we think that we do not have the time. However, our minds have a lot of wasted space that can be given to God. We have to redeem the time. For women, we can use the time while putting on our make-up or blow drying our hair. For men, use the time while shaving. For both genders, we can use the time while we shower, stop at red lights, do the laundry, wash the dishes, and mow the lawn. Let’s face it: our minds are thinking about something during this time. Instead of being focused on our obsessions, worries, cares, to-do’s, and problems, give this time to God.
Take your verse(s) with you wherever you go. You can type your verse out and put it on beautiful sheets of your choice. You can write it out on index cards. Many people prefer index cards spiral bound to keep them together. For iphone users, I’m sure there is an app. You can write it on your iphone notepad or record your voice speaking it and replay it throughout the day.
Now that we have the verse and we have found the time, let’s focus on the method. We don’t just memorize it by saying it over and over; we meditate on it. We spend time thinking about what each word means and what it doesn’t mean.
Then one of my favorite techniques as taught by Waylon Moore is to pulverize the verse. Say the verse over and over each time focusing on a different word in the verse. For example, say Jeremiah 32:17 (today’s verse) aloud and say with more umph the underlined and bolded word:
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
Jeremiah 32:17
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
Jeremiah 32:17
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
Jeremiah 32:17
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
Jeremiah 32:17
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
Jeremiah 32:17
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
Jeremiah 32:17
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
Jeremiah 32:17
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
Jeremiah 32:17
Repeat this process until each word in the verse has been emphasized.
After meditating and pulverizing the verse continuously for a week, the seed planted in our hearts will begin to germinate. You and I will no longer be merely short-term memorizing, but the Word will dwell within us. When God’s Word dwells within us, something miraculous happens. Our minds are renewed and transformed into the mind of Christ. We worry and fret less. We are armed for the attacks of the enemy. Our lips will be full of praise for our God. My friend, I’m ready for that kind of transformation!