Genesis 18:14  “Is anything too hard for the Lord?  At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

When Sarah overheard that she was to have a child in her old age, she laughed.  Her first response to a message from God was disbelief.  How many times, in our own lives, do we hear the voice of God and our response is one of doubt, even outright sarcasm.  Such was Sarah’s response.  The thought of having a child after all those years of yearning for one was too painful for Sarah to bear.  She must have spent years praying and hoping for a child, and then as she aged, she gave up.  Isn’t it like God to wait until it requires a miracle so that the glory is His and not our own?  When we have come to the end of ourselves, the crying and questioning, out of nowhere it seems, he comes and gently says, “Now is the time.”

The angel Gabriel used the same words when speaking to Mary regarding the Christ child, “For with God nothing will be impossible.” (Luke 1:37)  Sarah might have been old, but Mary was a virgin!  It says something about her faith that she did not laugh.  Instead, Mary chose to believe.

God knows the situations and circumstances of our lives.  He knows what it will take to test our faith in Him.  How about you? Have you heard a word from the Lord recently? Something that sounded impossible? Did you respond like Sarah or Mary?