In Genesis 18, angels appear to Abraham, and he prepares a meal for them. During their discussion, the Angel of the Lord informs Abraham that God is about to fulfill his promise to them and that Sarah, his wife, will bear his child in his old age. This promise was originally given to Abraham and Sarah 25 years earlier. Over the years, they attempted to help God fulfill that promise in several ways. Abraham had once tried to name his servant, Eliezer, as his rightful heir to receive God’s promises. God said, “No”! He then tried to adopt Lot as his heir, and again, God said, “No!” Maybe Abraham called his wife his sister and let Pharaoh take her, hoping she would conceive a son for them. The same might be said when Abraham surrendered his wife to Abimelech. But God would not allow any cohabitation between Sarah and Pharoah or Abimelech. He miraculously prevented it. Well then, Sarah suggested they try to use a surrogate mother, Hagar. Abraham took her, and she conceived and delivered Ishmael, who became the number one enemy of Abraham and Sarah’s descendants. It seemed that both Abraham and Sarah thought that God’s promise of a natural child was too hard for God to do on his own. They always wanted to help him. Then, in their old age, they seemed to have resolved to never having a child at all.

Now Sarah was listening to Abraham’s conversation with the angel, and she heard once again the promise that she would conceive and bear a son. But she said to herself in Genesis 18:12, “So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?’” Surely, this is a normal response for a 90-year-old woman with a husband who is 100 years old. I would think it’s funny also. But what is important in this passage is that the angel hears Sarah’s mind and answers her. He said in verse 14, “ Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Jeremiah 32:27 gives us God’s words to Jeremiah just before the Israelites were taken captive in Babylon. He promises Jeremiah of a time of restoration. Jeremiah might have harbored a few doubts because God then says, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” These are the kinds of questions that look for a particular response. Some assume a “yes.” Some assume a “no.” This one assumes a negative answer. “No!” Of course, there is nothing too difficult for God.

Max Lucado makes some insightful comments on Sarah and Abraham’s experience. He writes, “Finally when Abram is pushing a century of years and Sarai ninety … when Abram has stopped listening to Sarai’s advice, and Sarai has stopped giving it … when the wallpaper in the nursery is faded, and the baby furniture is several seasons out of date … when the topic of the promised child brings sighs and tears and long looks into a silent sky … God pays them a visit and tells them they had better select a name for their new son. Abram and Sarai have the same response: laughter. They laugh partly because it is too good to happen and partly because it might. They laugh because they have given up hope, and hope born anew is always funny before it is real.… They laugh because that is what you do when someone says he can do the impossible. They laugh a little at God and a lot with God—for God is laughing, too. Then, with the smile still on his face, he gets busy doing what he does best—the unbelievable.… He changes their faith. He changes the way they define the word impossible. But most of all, he changes Sarah’s attitude about trusting God.”[1] In his sermon on this passage, Adrian Rogers says, “There Is No Promise Too Hard for God to Keep. There Is No Prayer Too Hard for God to Answer. There Is No Problem Too Hard for God to Solve. There Is No Person Too Hard for God to Save.”[2]

[1] Lucado, Max. 1997. Life Lessons from the Inspired Word of God: Book of Genesis. Inspirational Bible Study Series. Dallas, TX: Word Pub.

[2] Rogers, Adrian. 2017. “There Is Nothing Too Hard for God.” In Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive, Je 32:17. Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.