Before Abraham ever had any children, God promised him that there would be a vast company of people that would be his descendants. Time passed, and it looked as if Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were never going to have any offspring. The promise seemed in danger of failing, so Abraham and Sarah decided to take matters into their own hands. Sarah offered her maid Hagar to bear Abraham a child, and Hagar had a baby, Ishmael. Yet God made it clear that the descendants He had promised were not going to emerge through Ishmael’s line. God was showing Abraham and Sarah that if His promise was going to be fulfilled, then only He could do it. Abraham was given one task: to trust in God’s promise—a promise that faced overwhelming difficulties and that therefore required an all-powerful God for its fulfillment.

As the years went by, Sarah still didn’t conceive. God came to Abraham again, reassuring him that even in her great age, she was going to bear a son. Eventually, at ninety years old, she gave birth to a boy, Isaac, whose name means “he laughs.” Abraham, who once laughed with wonder at the prospect of Isaac’s birth (Genesis 17:17), was now surely overcome with astonishment.

God keeps His promises. It is impossible for a ninety-year-old woman to give birth, but God is able to make it so. The promise of an heir to this aged couple called for nothing other than the supernatural gift of life. Without God’s divine intervention, there would have been no offspring; there would have been no birth. Similarly, there can be no spiritual life without God’s intervention. But by His power there can be new life—true life! From the very beginning, God was teaching His people that it takes a miracle for the gospel to take root in any life.

God keeps His promises. And His promises to His people are many, they are stunning, and they are all yes in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). Our part is to do what Abraham learned to do: to trust in God’s promises, even when they look far distant or impossible. After all, a promise that faces overwhelming difficulties demands an all-powerful God for its fulfillment—and that is precisely the God that you and I call Father.

Is there someone you know who needs to be reminded that God keeps His promises today? Let’s be honest: that is a reminder that we all need. Like Abraham, put your hope in God alone. He is able to keep His promises, and it is only by His power that they will be fulfilled. But you already know that God does miracles, just by looking in the mirror, for it took the same divine power that put the stars in place and that sustains the world to awaken your heart, bring you to faith, and give you eternal life.