New Year’s Eve: Ha! - Sarah

Genesis 11–23

“Who me?” “You’re crazy.” “I could never do that.” “I’m not qualified.” “I’m too scared.” “I’m too young.” “I’m too old.” You’ve probably said a combination of those sentences at some point.

In the Bible, Sarah is the ultimate example of someone who had the right to say, “Who me? You’re crazy.” God had promised he would make her husband into a great nation (see Genesis 12:2). For that to happen, they would need to have children—or at least one—but by her midseventies, Sarah was still childless. She talked Abraham into having a child with one of her servants. That didn’t work out so well.

Now she was about ninety, and there were divine messengers telling Abraham that Sarah would have a child within the year. Out of earshot, Sarah laughed to herself because she and Abraham were so worn out and old (see Genesis 18:12).

Of course nothing is ever out of earshot to God, and the messengers asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? . . . Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:13-14). And, as most of us would do in that situation, Sarah denied laughing, but God just said, “No, you did laugh” (verse 15).

Can anyone blame Sarah for being skeptical in that situation? Getting pregnant seemed a biological impossibility, but as we see again and again in the Bible, nothing is impossible with God.

We include Sarah in our collection of “women in the Christmas story” because she is an ancestor of Jesus. Matthew did not name her in his genealogy, but he could have. Sarah was not only the genetic mother of all Israelites, but the faith mother of all God’s people. “She believed that God would keep his promise,” says the book of Hebrews (11:11). Isaac fulfilled that promise in her day. Generations later, it was another babe in arms, Jesus.

And yet Sarah laughed.

As you go into the new year, remember that God can do “impossible” things through you. It doesn’t matter if you’re too old, too young, too fat, too underqualified, or too sinful. He specializes in surprises.

So keep laughing with Sarah all year long as you watch God work in flabbergasting ways.

It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise.

Hebrews 11:11