Pala'

My daughter's cat's name is Pala. In Hebrew, it means to be marvelous, be wonderful, be surpassing, be extraordinary, or be separate by distinguishing action. Considering the hissing I'm hearing from the hallway, though, I think our older cat, Sadie, would disagree that Pala lives up to her name.

 

This is Pala helping me with my Bible study.

 

In Genesis 18:14 (AMP), the Lord asked Abraham, "Is anything too hard or too wonderful for the Lord? At the appointed time, when the season [for her delivery] comes around, I will return to you and Sarah shall have borne a son."

 

The word pala' here has been translated "too hard or too wonderful." We can rephrase it by stating the fact that there is nothing too hard, too wonderful, to marvelous, to surpassing, or too extraordinary for the Lord to do. He is separate by His distinguishing actions, His wondrous works. The Lord did return and Sarah, who judged God faithful, received strength to conceive and give birth to Isaac—life from those who were as good as dead, according to the Hebrews 11:11-12.

 

The Amplified Bible commented on Genesis 18:14, "Nothing is “too hard or too wonderful” for Him when He is truly made Lord."

 

That last phrase is important—"when He is truly made Lord." Sarah "considered [God] Who had given her the promise to be reliable and trustworthy and true to His word." (Hebrews 11:11 AMP) The Lord God was her Lord. Her faith was evidence of that.

 

This made me think of another occurrence of the word, one of my favorites, where David wrote in Psalm 31:21 (AMP), "Blessed be the Lord! For He has shown me His marvelous loving favor when I was beset as in a besieged city." My Bible titles this Psalm as "The Lord a Fortress in Adversity."

 

As you read Psalm 31, it is clear that David was writing while suffering opposition. Yet, he was praising the Lord for His marvelous favor. Evident from his words, David had made the Lord truly Lord of his life. He trusted his life—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—to the Lord's care.

 

As we pray for our children, first of all it is important that in Praise, using the truth of God's Word, that we make the Lord truly Lord of our lives. That is the place where we gain understanding and trust, like Sarah and David, that there is not one thing too hard or too wonderful for the Lord to do in our own lives and in our children's lives.

 

Then we will join our voices together with theirs to declare—

 

"Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done,

and Your thoughts toward us;

there is none to compare with You.

If I would declare and speak of them,

they would be too numerous to count."

Psalm 40:5