Genesis 18:12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my Lord being old also?
Sarah just had to laugh at the wonderful, impossible, amazing Good News that she would bear a child next year. ”I am in menopause, past the age of child-bearing, and my husband is too old also. God, you must be joking.” She laughed in unbelief, in outright denial of God’s word and promise. We can certainly sympathize with her, for our reaction would be the same.
Although she laughed ”within herself,” not out loud, the Lord outside the tent knew she did not believe. The Lord asked, ”Why did you laugh?” She denied it because she was afraid. She was afraid because she knew she was in the presence of the holy and all-knowing God. Fear is our first reaction to being ”found out” and judged by God. The Lord’s usual response is ”Fear not.” He did not in this case, but God went ahead and kept His Promise anyway. The impossible Gospel Promise does not depend on our faith, but on His grace.
The Lord’s response was to say, ”Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” The same thing happened when Mary was told she would have a son: she questioned, and the angel responded, ”With God nothing shall be impossible.” Then her second response was one of faith: ”Be it unto me according to thy word.” When the Lord asks us that rhetorical question (“Is it too hard for Me?”), we know the answer. Can the Lord give life to a dead-in-sin person like me? We don’t laugh.