Originally posted 3/26/24

What does your heart long for most? Is it a husband, a new job, a new house, a new car, or a child? Are you praying for something and you feel like God is never going to answer it? Have you ever wanted something so badly that you didn’t wait for God’s timing and helped God a little? Our instant society has made waiting almost non-existent. We don’t even want to wait for a self-help checkout lane at Walmart. We want everything and we want it now! Waiting is so difficult. 

Sarah was promised a child. (We will call her Sarah even though Sarai was her name when her story began.) She waited years for God to fulfill His promise to them. She simply got tired of waiting. Or did she simply not trust God enough to keep His word?  “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,  the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,  the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”Gen 15:18-21 How could this promise actually be fulfilled if Sara had no child?

In the Jewish culture, a woman was scorned if she was unable to have children. Modern medicine tells us that it isn’t always the fault of the woman. However, the Jewish people did not have the same medical knowledge that we have today. Like many of us, Sarah thought God needed help to fulfill his promise. In Genesis 16, Sarai (Sarah) took matters in her own hands and gave her servant girl, Hagar to her husband. Sarah was past the years for her to be able to conceive a child. She did not see another way for God to fulfill his promise. She thought that if Hagar could have a child for her, she would be fulfilled. God told Sara that she would have a child, but she appeared to be barren. She decided to give Hagar, her servant, to her husband. She convinced her husband that this was a good idea. What could go wrong when you ask your husband to lie with another woman? 

As you might expect, things went downhill after that. Sarah wanted a baby more than anything and Hagar was able to have a child with Abraham. We read in Scripture that Hagar was not gracious. She acted as though she had the upper hand. 

Genesis 16:1-4 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 

ESV Bible

According to Len Woods in his book, 31 Women in the Bible, “At the height of her hopelessness, Sarah was on the receiving end of perhaps he best rhetorical question in the Bible. As she struggles against doubt and cynicism, she was asked, “Is anything impossible for the LORD?” (Gen 18:14) p. 12 

Many years later, God fulfilled His promise. He was absolutely true to His word.  Genesis 21:1-5 says,  “The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised.  And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.”

How long would you wait for God to answer a prayer? What if it took years, could you wait? Would you help God? Or would you just give up on God? God often leads to a place where only God can solve the situation. We have to figure out if we really trust Him to do what he says. All throughout the Bible, God is faithful to fulfill His promises. 2 Timothy 2:13 reminds us that “if we are faithless, he remains faithful– for he cannot deny himself.” Trust Him today with all your burdens. 

#faith, #Bible, #Scriptures, #Christian Women, #Discipleship, #womenintheBible, #Sarah, #Sarai