"Where is Sarah, your wife?" About this time next year I will return, and your wife Sarah will have a son." Now Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent nearby, And since Abraham and Sarah were both very old, and Sarah was long past the age of having children, she laughed silently to herself. "How could a worn out woman like me have a baby?', she thought. "And when my master-my husband-is also old?" Then the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, 'Can an old woman like me have a baby?' Is anything too hard for the Lord?...I will return and Sarah will have a son."
Genesis 18:9-14
When we first meet Sarai 25 years earlier in the text she did not have any children yet. Let's go back to Genesis 12 and re-visit the promise God made to her husband: 1) "I will make you a great nation." (2) and then "I am going to give this land to your offspring." Can you imagine what Sarai was thinking when Abram told her that God was going to make him a great nation and give his offspring their new land? The Bible doesn't tell us what she was thinking, but I have a few thoughts. I believe she prepared the tent for babies and she started gathering all she would need to care for her children. I believe she made clothes and diapers. She made a basket and blankets. And she was excited and ready for her new life as a mother right after hearing these words. Isn't this how we would respond? But this is not how it happened for Sarai. She would have to wait and wait and wait some more. When Sarai hears these words from the Lord it has been 25 years since she first heard about this promise of offspring. Yes, God showed up again in Chapter 15 (5-7,13-16) and told Abram what would happen to his descendants but no son, yet. God also showed up again in Chapter 17 (3-6, 15-16) and changed Abram and Sarai's names to reflect the promise and declared they should be Abraham, father of many nations, and Sarah, mother of many nations, but no child for Sarah yet. Now, here we are in Chapter 18, 25 years later and God is more definitive about the promise because He says, "About this time next year I will return, and your wife Sarah will have a son."
What can we learn from Sarah's barreness and 25 year faith walk with the Lord?
When we first meet Sarai 25 years earlier in the text she did not have any children yet. Let's go back to Genesis 12 and re-visit the promise God made to her husband: 1) "I will make you a great nation." (2) and then "I am going to give this land to your offspring." Can you imagine what Sarai was thinking when Abram told her that God was going to make him a great nation and give his offspring their new land? The Bible doesn't tell us what she was thinking, but I have a few thoughts. I believe she prepared the tent for babies and she started gathering all she would need to care for her children. I believe she made clothes and diapers. She made a basket and blankets. And she was excited and ready for her new life as a mother right after hearing these words. Isn't this how we would respond? But this is not how it happened for Sarai. She would have to wait and wait and wait some more. When Sarai hears these words from the Lord it has been 25 years since she first heard about this promise of offspring. Yes, God showed up again in Chapter 15 (5-7,13-16) and told Abram what would happen to his descendants but no son, yet. God also showed up again in Chapter 17 (3-6, 15-16) and changed Abram and Sarai's names to reflect the promise and declared they should be Abraham, father of many nations, and Sarah, mother of many nations, but no child for Sarah yet. Now, here we are in Chapter 18, 25 years later and God is more definitive about the promise because He says, "About this time next year I will return, and your wife Sarah will have a son."
What can we learn from Sarah's barreness and 25 year faith walk with the Lord?
Some of you may be facing an area in your life like Sarah where it
seems too hard for the Lord. You may be waiting on Him to deliver you
from a physical problem, a family problem, a financial test or a
personal burden. I encourage you to choose to exercise your faith,
stretch it, grow it, and trust God; for none of God's promises can fail.
Continue to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) Now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1 Stand on His promises to you.
Is there anything too hard for
the Lord?
Nothing you face in this life is beyond the resources, the ability or the love of our Father.
Father, I know You use our circumstances as fertilizer to grow our faith. Lord, there is nothing impossible for You. I pray for my sister who may want to give up. Lord, send her a sign of Your promise. I pray this word encourages her heart and she leans into You. In Jesus name I pray, Amen
Nothing you face in this life is beyond the resources, the ability or the love of our Father.
Father, I know You use our circumstances as fertilizer to grow our faith. Lord, there is nothing impossible for You. I pray for my sister who may want to give up. Lord, send her a sign of Your promise. I pray this word encourages her heart and she leans into You. In Jesus name I pray, Amen
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