11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

In case you’re not familiar with the story, a little review will help. Yesterday we learned how Abraham was called by God to move to a new place he’d never been – and he did. He and his wife Sarah had no children. Abraham’s only son Ishmael was through his concubine. In Genesis 17, when Abraham was 99 and Sarah was 90 (well beyond child bearing years), God promised to make a great nation of him. Abraham laughed at the news. Sarah, when she heard later, also laughed, but denied it: “Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”” (Gen 18:15 NASB). Can you blame her? It’s quite an amazing promise. Actually, though she didn’t have the immediate acceptance of the promise as Mary did when she was told by Gabriel she’d have a child through the Holy Spirit, Sarah was still quite a godly woman and wife. In fact, I think after the shock and seeming absurdity of the promise wore off, Sarah, by faith, considered the promise and the One who promised it and chose to believe it. “Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.” (Gen 21:1-2 NASB) Beyond that, she, like her husband, also believed that from this son would come a great nation and, through Abraham’s descendant, Jesus, all the nations would be blessed. 

Because God is faithful to His promises, they believed, and God indeed fulfilled His promise and made a great nation – too many to count. Let us likewise consider God’s promises, consider who God is, and by faith, believe.