Just Half An Hour

Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say “Can an old woman like me have a baby?” Is anything too hard for the Lord?

~ Genesis 18:13-14

I read Genesis 18:1-15 today and got a number of lessons from it, not the least of which was the fact that there is nothing that is too hard for God to do, nothing impossible for Him to do.

Lessons Learned in Genesis 18

The Importance of Hospitality

I really enjoy having guests over but I will confess, sometimes I just don’t feel like entertaining guests and especially when I’m not expecting them and even more especially on occasions when they show up uninvited and unannounced.

But Abraham wasn’t like me, at least not in this passage.

It was a hot day and he was sitting outside his front door, catching a nice cool evening breeze I assume, when he saw three men standing nearby.

I would have probably ignored them (after all, they didn’t actually come right up to me and say they were looking for me) but his initial instinct was quite unlike mine…

He ran to meet them, welcomed them into his home, and proceeded to entertain them with refreshments and offered them his household amenities so they could freshen up..

I’m pretty sure that, prior to reading this, that’s not what I would have done but now I’m thinking a bit differently.

I should start:

• Looking for opportunities to be more hospitable, even to people I don’t know
  • This will probably look different in this day and age of rampant crime, but there have to be safe ways I can show hospitality to others
• Being more willing to put myself out for the sake of others
  • Sure its nice to relax after work and chill out with a good book or TV show that gives my mind a break, but I’d like to learn to be willing to put my relaxation and “me time” on pause for the sake of putting the needs of others ahead of mine
• Doing the above selflessly, with absolutely no expectation of receiving anything in return

I found it interesting that Abraham was the one actively at the forefront when it came to entertaining the guests and waiting on them. This may sound sexist, but I think the majority of us think of that as being more traditionally the woman’s responsibility…

But what woman wouldn’t want to have the type of guy who helps out around the house…?

That said, his example also inspires me to be more helpful to my husband when it comes to doing “man work”… Maybe I can’t mow the lawn or fix a broken faucet, but I can certainly hand him the tools he needs or open the side gate for him to wheel the mower into the backyard.

Trusting God To Do The Impossible

Sarah was off in the background, probably cooking the food Abraham was serving the guests or something and the guests asked where she was.

She wasn’t too faraway though because she could hear the conversation Abraham was having with the guests so imagine how incredulous she thought it was when one of the guests said he’d be back again to see the couple in a year, by which time she (Sarah) would have had a son.

So much so, she laughed at even the notion of becoming a mother since she was, as we would say today, a woman of a certain age…

Her exact age is not really said but Abraham was 100 when Isaac was eventually born so I’m guessing Sarah was no spring chicken either.

And this is when the verses quoted at the beginning of this post happened… One of the guests, who it is actually revealed here was the Lord called Sarah out for laughing so she resorted to trying to deny it and defend her response.

But the Lord said “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”.

I think I’m very much like Sarah… If there’s something I can’t quite wrap my mind around, something that I can’t figure… If it’s impossible for me, I assume it’s impossible. Period.

But here I have the assurance that nothing is too hard for God.

Here He asks the question and the answer is assumed but it is very clearly stated in the following verses so nothing is left as a mystery as to whether or not anything is too hard for Him.

O Sovereign Lord! You have made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!

Jeremiah 32:17

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For nothing is impossible with God.

Luke 1:37

I need to stop thinking that God is limited by my own limited imagination. He’s not. I need to start living like I really believe in the God for whom nothing is impossible.