Matthew Henry Commentary
 
 

Genesis 18:14

 
Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
 

Observe this:

Even where there is true faith, yet there are often sore conflicts with unbelief, Sarah could say, Lord, I believe (Hebrews 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised), and yet must say, Lord, help my unbelief ie. Mark 9:24 - And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief

The angel reproves the indecent expressions of her distrust, v. 13, 14. Observe,

1. Though Sarah was now most kindly and generously entertaining these angels, yet, when she did amiss, they reproved her for it, as Christ reproved Martha in her own house, (Luke 10:40-42 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.  41And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.) - If our friends be kind to us, we must not therefore be so unkind to them as to suffer sin upon them.

2. God gave this reproof to Sarah by Abraham her husband. To him he said, Why did Sarah laugh? perhaps because he had not told her of the promise which had been given him some time before to this purport, and which, if he had communicated it to her with its ratifications, would have prevented her from being so surprised now. Or Abraham was told of it that he might tell her of it. Mutual reproof, when there is occasion for it, is one of the duties of the conjugal relation.

3. The reproof itself is plain, and backed with a good reason: Wherefore did Sarah laugh? Note, It is good to enquire into the reason of our laughter, that it may not be the laughter of the fool, (Ecclesiastes 7:6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.) "Wherefore did I laugh?’’ Again, Our unbelief and distrust are a great offence to the God of heaven. He justly takes it ill to have the objections of sense set up in contradiction to His promise, as (Luke 1:18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.).

 4. Here is a question asked which is enough to answer all the cavils of flesh and blood: Is any thing too hard for the Lord?

(Heb. too wonderful ), that is,

(1.) Is any thing so secret as to escape his cognizance? No, not Sarah’s laughing, though it was only within herself. Or,

(2.) Is any thing so difficult as to exceed his power? No, not the giving of a child to Sarah in her old age

Jeremiah 32:27 “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?

God here asserts His own sovereignty and power (v. 27): Behold, I am Jehovah, a self-existent self-sufficient being; I am that I am; I am the God of all flesh, that is, of all mankind, here called flesh because weak and unable to contend with God --   (Psalms 56:4 In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.) and because wicked and corrupt and unapt to comply with God.

God is the Creator of all, and makes what use He pleases of all. He that is the God of Israel is the God of all flesh and of the spirits of all flesh, and, if Israel were cast off, could raise up a people to His name out of some other nation. If He be the God of all flesh, He may well ask, Is any thing too hard for me? What cannot He do from whom all the powers of men are derived, on whom they depend, and by whom all their actions are directed and governed? Whatever He designs to do, whether in wrath or in mercy, nothing can hinder Him nor defeat His designs.