Why would Abraham have shown such lavish hospitality to three strangers? For he didn’t just bring them the bread and water he promised them at first. Instead, he treated them like royalty, asking his wife Sarah to bake fresh bread for them and putting a whole calf on the grill. Moreover, this aged, wealthy patriarch called himself one of their servants and stood by them while they ate, ready to satisfy their every request.

So, why did Abraham humble himself before these three men, addressing them as lord (verse 3)? Why was he somehow able to discern the presence of God within them? We must remember that this wasn’t Abraham’s first encounter with God. God had spoken to him several times in the past. And in Genesis 12, 15, and 17, God had made big promises to him, promises to give him the land in which he was wandering as a stranger, promises to make him the father of many nations. God had even changed his name from Abram to Abraham to emphasize that last promise, even though by this time in the story, Abraham and Sarah still hadn’t had any children as a couple – and Abraham was close to 100, while Sarah was almost 90.

So, we have to believe that because Abraham was so close to God and trusted God so much, he recognized the presence of God in the three strangers who appeared to him. It was thus only natural that he would also believe what they said when they repeated a promise God had already made to him – that he and Sarah would indeed have a son within a year, the one who would begin to fulfill all the rest of the promises God had made to him.

But such belief wasn’t easy. No, what the Lord promised Abraham and Sarah was, by any commonsensical measure, simply impossible. When Sarah laughed at what the three men said, she was being quite reasonable, because 90-year-old women just don’t get pregnant. But the good news is that nothing is impossible for God (verse 14). God is always able to keep His promises, no matter how unrealistic they may seem to be. And Abraham and Sarah did indeed have a child just as the three men said (Genesis 21:1-2).

So it turns out that Abraham, who trusted God and waited expectantly for His impossible promises to be fulfilled, really was the reasonable one after all. Will we trust in the God of Abraham today?

Genesis 18:1-15 (NAS)

Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.
2 And when he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth,
3 and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by.
4 “Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree;
5 and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.”
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.”
7 Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf, and gave it to the servant; and he hurried to prepare it.
8 And he took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.
9 Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “Behold, in the tent.”
10 And he said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing.
12 And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
13 And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’
14 “Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”
15 Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”