And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

The highlighted words above show that Abraham and Sarah were facing double-trouble. It wasn’t just Sarah who was infertile. They were both biologically incapable of having children.

One of the celebrated heroes of the Christian faith said,

‘The borderline of human helplessness is the borderline of divine miracle.’

‘Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees
And looks to that alone;
Laughs at impossibilities
And cries: It shall be done!’ Charles Wesley


‘Got any rivers you think are uncrossable?
Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through?
God specializes in things thought impossible
and he will do what no other power can do…

…God is the same and his word is dependable
He’ll make a way through the waters for you
Life’s situations by him are amendable
Mountains and hills he will part for you too.’

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness
    and who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
    and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
2 look to Abraham, your father,
    and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man,
    and I blessed him and made him many.” (Isaiah 51:1,2).

This is an example of what can happen when God’s promise and power encounters our barrenness at the borderline.