Ryan Daffron

“Is anything too hard for the LORD?” — Genesis 18:14

SOUNDING

God has just announced to Abraham that Sarah will finally have a son. The promise comes late. Painfully late. Sarah is listening from inside the tent, overhearing what sounds impossible. Her body has aged. The years have passed. Every natural category says the season for having a kid is over. This is not news to her. It is her lived reality.

So, Sarah laughs. Not because it is funny, but because disappointment has had years to settle in. Hope has been disappointed enough times that it now feels unsafe. Laughter becomes protection. It is easier to deflect than to open the door to another long wait. The laugh carries memory. It carries grief. It carries the quiet resignation of someone who learned not to expect much anymore.

God does not meet her with rebuke. He meets her with a question that reaches beneath the laughter: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” The question is not really about biology or timing. It is about whether God is still allowed to define what is possible. God steps directly into the place where hope shut down in order to survive. Not to shame her. But to invite her to let His ability be larger than her history.

BEARING

Hope is restored when God’s faithfulness is allowed to challenge what disappointment has taught you to expect.

PRAYER

Lord, restore hope where disappointment has trained me to expect less from You.

DROP IN

Write down the area where hope feels hardest and place God’s question beside it