This headline text from Genesis 18:14 is one of my favorite texts. With God, nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1:37), and with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). These are wonderful, comforting promises. Ellen White says, “None have fallen so low, none are so vile, but they can find deliverance in Christ.” The Desire of Ages, 258. Although nothing is too hard for the Lord, inspiration clearly reveals that even for God, there are some things that are hard. For example, “Said the angel, ‘Think ye that the Father yielded up His dearly beloved Son without a struggle? No, no.’ It was even a struggle with the God of heaven, whether to let guilty man perish, or to give his darling Son to die for them.” Early Writings, 127. Like the disciples, often we do not comprehend that it was One equal with the Father who took our nature upon Him and came to this world as a man. (See Manuscript Releases, vol. 11, 365.)
There is something else that is hard for God to do: “The Majesty of heaven in tears! The Son of the infinite God troubled in spirit, bowed down with anguish! The scene reveals to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin; it shows how hard a task it is, even for Infinite Power, to save the guilty from the consequences of transgressing the law of God.” The Great Controversy, 22
So at the same time that we rejoice in the wonderful promises and know that nothing is too hard for the Lord, we must face the reality of the nature and depth of sin, because until we realize how awful and deep-rooted it is in our nature, we will not be able to comprehend the awesomeness or power of wonder of salvation. “There is nothing more acceptable in the sight of God than the continual humiliation of the soul before Him. These evidences are unmistakable proofs that the Lord has touched hearts by His Holy Spirit. More wonderful than miracles of physical healing is the miracle wrought in the child of God in wrestling with natural defects and overcoming them.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 8, 184, 185. “The renewing of the heart is a far greater miracle than the healing of the diseases of the body.”—(To J.H. Kellogg, April 15, 1892.) Manuscript Releases, vol. 9, 281
If we do not understand this greatest of all miracles, we will be in danger of not having the “overcome or die” determination that everyone needs to have in order to be saved. Concerning soldiers, Ellen White comments, “There is an enemy to meet, an enemy to be resisted. Enemies of our country will destroy her peace and bring disaster and ruin, unless driven back and repulsed. ‘Conquer or die,’ is the motto. Thus it is with the Christian warfare, We have an enemy that we must meet, who is never off his guard one moment. The claims of our country are not higher than the claims of God. If hardships are borne and trials are endured by our soldiers fighting in behalf of their country to obtain the mastery and bring to obedience the rebellious, how much more willingingly should the soldiers of Christ endure privation, self-denial, and taxation for His sake!”Signs of the Times, October 21, 1908. “Angels and men are taking note of us to see what manner of spirit we are of, to see whether we are meeting the approval of heaven. You may feel that you cannot meet the approval of heaven. You may say, ‘I was born with a natural tendency toward this evil, and I cannot overcome.’ But every provision has been made by our heavenly Father whereby you may be able to overcome every unholy tendency. You are to overcome even as Christ overcame in your behalf. He says, ‘To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and set down with My Father in His throne.’ It was sin that imperiled the human family; and before man was created the provision was made that if man failed to bear the test, Jesus would become his sacrifice and surety, that through faith in Him, man might be reconciled to God, for Christ was the lamb ‘slain from the foundation of the world.’ Christ died on Calvary that man might have power to overcome his natural tendencies to sin.” Review and Herald, February 23, 1892
When this greatest of all miracles takes place in the life, the person “will then reflect the character of Christ, the hope of glory. It will be the greatest mystery to him that Jesus should have made so great a sacrifice to redeem him. He will exclaim, with humble mien and quivering lip, ‘He loved me. He gave Himself for me. he became poor that I, through His poverty, might be made rich. The man of sorrows did not spurn me, but poured out His inexhaustible, redeeming love that my heart might be made clean; and He has brought me back into loyalty and obedience to all His commandments. His condescension, his humiliation, His crucifixion, are the crowning miracles in the marvelous exhibition of the plan of salvation. That the just should die for the unjust, the pure for the impure, is beyond all manifestations of human love; and all this He has done to make it possible to impart to me His own righteousness, that I may keep the law I have transgressed. For this I adore Him. I will proclaim Him to all sinners. I will cry, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!”’” Review and Herald, October 16, 1888