Verse for the Day, 20 March 2014.

Genesis 18:10-15  The LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.  (11)  Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.  (12)  So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?"  (13)  The LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?'  (14)  Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son."  (15)  But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh."

 

God’s promise to Abraham was first made about 30 years prior to this event and even at that time it sounded impossible. A man and wife in their sixties to have a child together, surely not? Yet God makes Abraham and Sarah wait and wait, and wait! Why? Why make them wait over 30 years? You may remember that some time back we learnt that Genesis is a book of foundations, it sets the scene in which the rest of Scripture will unfold. When it comes to the character, ways, working and attributes of God, Genesis is a gold mine, few books in the Bible can rival it in terms of what it teaches us in these subjects. What we are seeing in this passage is God doing what only God could do, God is being established as the God of the impossible, the God who has the power to carry out all His plans and purposes,no matter how implausible they may seem.

It sounds impossible for a man and wife in their sixties to have a child, but as modern medical science has proven, it is not entirely impossible. But a woman in her nineties? Note what verse 11 tells us, “The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.” Without going into detail, this verse simply tells us that the biological functions of the female body necessary for conception had ceased. Sarah is completely incapable of being able to conceive, even with all the aids of medical science. Scripture is deliberate in seeking to show us that from the human perspective the promise of God that Sarah would give birth to a child is an absolute impossibility. The magnitude of its impossibility is evidenced by Sarah’s reaction, she laughs in disbelief. She looks down at her body and knowing that “The way of women had ceased” to be with her, she finds it hard, impossible to believe that she will conceive, carry and give birth to a child.

 

Having stacked the odds against God, the question is put forward by the Lord, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” All this serves to leave us as the readers and Abraham and Sarah with only one conclusion, that if Abraham and Sarah are going to have a child, it will only be because God will work in His sovereign power in their lives, in their physical bodies and perform the impossible. This then means that at no point could Abraham or Sarah take the credit, they would also know that Isaac was God’s child, that came as a result of God’s sovereign and powerful work, in accordance to the promise that God made with them over thirty years earlier. It is all of God and very, very little of Abraham and Sarah.

 

God works in these ways so as to establish His will and work, to demonstrate that it is His plan, His will and His work, we cannot lay any claim to it. This covenant, this nation of people, the kings that shall arise from them, the land and the universal blessing that Abraham’s descendant shall be, is all God’s plan, purpose and sovereign will. God initiates this work by doing the impossible, by doing what God alone can do. This should give us great hope and confidence in God, knowing that the answer to the questions, “Is anything to hard for the LORD?”, is no!

Furthermore, this passage establishes man as being finite, limited and incapable, but God as infinite, unrestricted and capable of all things, He is not bound by the limits that bind us. He is sovereign and He does as He determines to do, no one and nothing can hold back His hand. Therefore if God says a woman in her nineties will conceive and give birth to child, then our response is not to laugh in disbelief or doubt but to realise that God is much, much higher than we are, He is able to do the impossible and His sovereign will always, always comes to pass.

 

Sovereign God of the impossible, we bow before Your throne in humble adoration today and confess that we are nothing but dust in comparison to You. You are infinitely higher and greater than we are, You sovereign purposes and plans always stand not matter how impossible them may seem to us. Thank You that You are the God of the impossible, that Your arm is never too short, or Your power insufficient. Forgive us for questioning Your wisdom and doubting Your ability, help us to place out trust in You all the more. Amen.