YES YOU DID; YOU LAUGHED
The men speak to Sarah and announce some news and this is the first hint is given to Abraham as to who these guests are. They ask him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" Only the Lord could know of her recent name-change, but here is a man who asks, "Where is Sarah?" Abraham begins to realize then who this is, and when the question is followed with the repeated promise of a son, he is sure of the identity of his guest.
Do you remember those two men on the Emmaus road, after the resurrection of our Lord, who did not recognize Jesus when he joined them? It was not until they saw him in the familiar act of breaking bread that they knew who he was. So when Abraham hears these familiar words about the promise of the son, then he knows who it is that speaks.
Sarah has been listening to everything. She is doing the dishes just beyond the tent curtain, but she hears it all. She hears the question and the promise, and she realizes it is God who is saying that she will have a son. She looks at her 90-year-old body, long since almost dead. She looks in the mirror and sees the whiteness of her hair, the wrinkles in her face. She feels the arthritis in her bones. And when she hears this, she laughs cynically to herself.
She made no sound at all, but laughed to herself, we are told. But beyond the curtains, the Lord read her thoughts and said to Abraham, "Why does Sarah laugh in her heart? Is anything too hard for the Lord? I'll set a date for this: I'll be back next spring and she shall have a son." And we read that Sarah was afraid. She saw that her heart was open and known to God. She saw that there was one who reads hearts as we read books and she reacted just like we do. She denied that she had laughed. But God knows that to justify or excuse our sin or to protect it and rationalize it and build a wall about it is to drive us into further misery and heartache. We cut ourselves off from divine help. And so the stern word comes to her. "No, but you did laugh. Admit it, face it: you did laugh, Sarah."
Remarkably enough, the account ends right here. Suddenly the subject is dropped, and another situation is introduced in the next paragraph. We are left to wonder what this means.
What we learn in this story is that Sarah felt forgotten, pushed aside, aged out. Sarah's laughter is cynical, unbelieving. If this were all of the story, we would be tempted to say that this woman is no example to follow. But over in the New Testament, in the book of Hebrews we get the rest of the story. There, in that wonderful eleventh chapter, the hall of fame of the heroes of faith, Sarah's name appears:
By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. (Hebrews 11:11 RSV)
Now we begin to see what must have happened. After the guests left, Sarah was still thinking about what she had heard, and the words of the Lord came home to her heart in peculiar power -- especially the question God had asked, "Is there anything too hard for the Lord?"
As Sarah thought about it, she had to face that question. Is there? Is anything too hard for the Lord? She began to think of it -- the Creator, the one who called out of nothing the vast world in which we live and beyond that the worlds which circle us in the limitless reaches of space, the one who sustains from day to day all the mighty, complex forces of earth, brings the sun up on time, guides the planets in their whirling courses, predicts human events, and centuries later brings them to pass exactly as he promised. Even the demons obey his word and tremble when they hear it. As Sarah began to think of the one who had said these words, she felt the full force of that question, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" And she looked beyond the contrary facts of her own life and beyond the contrary feelings of her own heart and said, "Of course not. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. If he has promised, then it shall be done." Through faith she received power to conceive when she was past age because she counted him faithful who had promised.
What a beautiful lesson this is on the nature of faith. Faith looks beyond all the contrary circumstances to rest upon the character of the one who promised. Do not be misled by the popular delusion that faith stands by itself, that it is simply believing -- anything! Faith must have a promise to rest upon. Anything else is presumption, gullibility, folly. But when God has given a word, it is the Word of God, and it can be trusted despite circumstance, feelings, or anything else. For is anything too hard for the Lord? Sarah rested upon that and believed God.
But all of this promise came after they had passed the test.
Does it seem hard to you to be what God wants you to be?
Is it hard to keep your evil nature in the place of death? Hard to cast down evil imaginings and bring every thought into captivity to Christ? It is not too hard for the Lord!
Does it seem hard to you to be made sweet and gracious and forgiving and loving when down inside you know how nasty and devious and unpleasant and perverse you can be? It is hard for you, but it is not too hard for the Lord!
Does it seem hard that the friend for whom you are praying should ever be converted or the one that is now rebelling against grace can ever be changed? Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Does some task which God is now asking of you seem impossible to perform? Some situation in which you are living -- is it too hard and demanding for you? Well, it may be hard for you, but it is not too hard for the Lord.
As faith learns to rest, not on its own resources which are never adequate, but upon the unfailing resources of God in response to a definite promise he gives, nothing is impossible.
Laughter wasn’t the problem in this story it was the lack of doubt. Never stop doubting and stand in the joy of Christ. He isn’t finished with you and the promises you are yet to give birth too are as bright as the stars in the heavens.