And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? (Gen 18,13-4)
By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. (Heb 11,11)

Sarah could rightly think that she and Abraham were no shame to God on earth: they were the only ones here who truly worshipped Him and had no other gods. They live in an orderly family, they are faithful to each other, their farm is a household name far and wide, and they enjoy the respect of their neighbors and their own servants - what more could God ask of them?

It was all good, surely. But our problem is that we present to God what we are sure we have sorted out in our lives, while we push aside what we know God wants us to do, but we don't exactly excel at. Now, I'm not referring to the "I should" (or "we should") type requests that make us feel guilty and so we quickly commit something pious to ease our conscience and have peace. I mean something that is specifically between God and us and belongs to us right now. Sometimes God asks us to do things that surprise us. Clearly, the question of faith was not the most important one for Sarah right now. Other things seemed more important to her, perhaps the practical witness of the lives of those around them. But for God it was now the most important question. For the miraculous conception of Isaac, the miracle of the resurrection, was about to take place, and God needed to find with her right now the most important and the only thing that can unleash the power of God in a person - faith.

In the weeks that followed this visitation, Sarah was caught up in the inner struggle for supernatural faith that Abraham had gone through before her. Like everything worthwhile, it was not born easily or immediately - but Sarah eventually prevailed in that struggle.

Consider this: the epistle to the Hebrews gives Sarah, laughing at the apparent nonsense of the birth of a son, as an example - of FAITH! How is this possible? Because in God's eyes, seen from the side of eternity, she really is. Justified and transformed, full of the victorious faith of God. God no longer recalls any of her faults, they are forever and wholly blotted out. They remain written on our side of heaven, but only for our sake, for our edification and strength in our struggles. Just as Peter, for example, who is an example of inconstancy and failure for us, becomes in eternity the immovable foundation of a new city (Rev. 21:14)!

The glorified future will overlook all our stumbles and falls, and only the precious things we have attained in Christ will remain forever. "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be!" (1 J 3,2)