The wait for Sarah, the wife of Abraham, to get pregnant was long and stressful. Abraham had received various promises from God that he would have a son and that he would be the head of many nations, but Sarah knew ‘she was old and well advanced in years and past the age of child-bearing.‘ Genesis 18:11. So when she heard the visitors announce ‘about this time next year your wife Sarah will have a son,‘ Genesis18:10, she laughed quietly to herself. Nothing was going to happen. But God had heard the silent laugh and said to Abraham ‘Why did Sarah laugh?’ verse 13. This knowledge of God made her afraid and then she lied to make matters worse. ‘I did not laugh,’ verse 15.
There is a question we can ask ourselves. Do we believe there is a limit to God’s power. that there are some things He cannot do? When we think of someone we know, do we think it is impossible that they could ever make a confession of faith? Such thinking will restrict our prayers and petitions on behalf of this person. We ask, why spend our prayers and petitions on behalf of this person, who is too stubborn to yield to God? We must not restrict God’s powers and abilities. In Jeremiah 32:27 we hear God ask, ‘Is anything too hard foi me?’