Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” (Genesis 18:10-12 NIV)
Abraham and Sarah were past the years of childbearing when the LORD made this startling promise. “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” He was 99 and she was 89. This was confirmation of the promise God had made to Abraham 26 years earlier, when He told Abram He would make him into a great nation. As if to set it up so it would take a miracle that only He could do, God waited those 26 years to act.
Sarah laughed.
Really, God? “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” How can this even be possible? Sarah had her doubts. This promise seemed both too-good-to-be-true and too impossible to hope for. She and Abraham had already acted on their doubts about God's promise to give Abraham a son by giving him her servant, Hagar, as a second wife, and by now Ishmael is 12 years old. They "helped" God fulfill His promise, and in the end it brought tension and division into their family.
God's response to Sarah's laughter is revealing:
Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” (Genesis 18:13-14 NIV)
God looks for faith in us. But He also sees our doubts. He knew Sarah's heart. His rhetorical question points away from our doubts to His sufficiency. Is anything too hard for the LORD? Indeed, for the One who created the universe giving a child to a couple who is "past the age of childbearing" is not only possible, it is exactly what He chooses to do to accomplish His great plan of revealing Himself to and redeeming His fallen world.
Today we live in an era of skepticism and doubt. Many trust science instead of God. Some who have been wounded by past experiences with church and church people doubt that God is good, or that He loves them. Many see the evil in the world and doubt that God exists. But God is able to do the impossible. He is not bound by science. He is able to do supernatural things. And God is able to turn our doubts into faith.
Most all of us have had our moments of praying for something that seems impossible and doubting God can or will do it, even as we pray. It is a common human experience to sometimes doubt our faith. I prayed, and God hasn't answered. Is He really there? Is He really real? Does He even care about my insignificant life?
What do we do with our doubts?
One thing we can do with our doubts is to persist through them to a place of deeper faith. Prayer is not magic. God refuses to be treated like Amazon. Place and order (pray). Pay the price (be a good person). And expect God to deliver the goods. He is not a cosmic butler. He wants a relationship. He delights when His children persist in faith through the doubts of unanswered prayer or the devastating storms of life. Praying consistently, even when prayer seems dry and unanswered, can lead to breakthroughs in God's perfect timing.
Another thing we can do with our doubts is to compare them with the witness of Scripture. Somehow, when all seems lost, God comes through. The lions did not even touch Daniel in the lion's den. The walls of Jericho fell. The Red Sea parted when the Israelites were trapped. A virgin conceives supernaturally so the Son of God can be born into the world. The cross gives way to the empty tomb. Immersing ourselves in the Word of God expands our understanding of God's nature and grows our faith in the One who can do impossible things.
Ultimately, God has revealed to us that we will never fully understand Him or explain Him. He is simply beyond our comprehension. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV)
What overcomes doubt and deepens faith is not more understanding. It is an encounter with Jesus. Doubts become less important when we meet Him face to face. Some unexplained questions will remain a mystery until we see Him in eternity. In the meantime, we know He is real because we have encountered Him. We know His forgiveness and grace and Presence in our lives.
I doubt that I have all the answers. I do not doubt that I have a Savior and Lord who loves me. I fully believe God will work for good in all things in the lives of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28) God can not only handle our doubts, He can use them to grow our faith. You see, tested faith is stronger faith. Jesus loves you, doubts and all. He proved His love by dying on the cross. When you know Him personally, doubts grow dimmer and faith grows stronger. So bring those doubts to Jesus and trust Him to do what you cannot do. He is faithful - no doubt about it.
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