"By faith Sarah herself also received strength to coneive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised." Hebrews 11:11
She new that God was faithful, but she didn't alway act like she knew it. I had never related myself so much to Sarah as in the first two and a half pages of this chapter: "impatient, temperamental, conniving, cantankerous, cruel, flighty, pouty, jealous, erratic, unreasonable, a whiner, a complainer, or a nag". Her episodes "of ill temper or strife" remind me of my own. And like Sarah's episodes mine are related to my frustrations. Sarah desperately wanted to be something, wanted God's promise to be fulfilled but couldn't wait. Instead "she concocted a scheme" and it "tore her life apart and seemed to leave a lasting scar on her personality." Think about what your own desires are, even if they are desires given by God. Is there something that you are so desperate for that you are anxious about waiting for God to fulfill that desire? As much as we know God and trust Him it is still hard to wait for Him.
"Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart." Psalm 37:4
"Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (define requests) with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God." Philippians 4:6
"Therefore Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I have become aged shall I have pleasure and delight, my lord (husband), being old also?"
Genesis 18:12
P.S. There are countless verses about God delighting in us! So how do we delight in Him? Philippians 4:4, Nehemiah 1:11, Job 22:25-26, Psalm 1:2, Psalm 40:8, Psalm 94:19, Psalm 119:92 ...
Sarah had "important strengths" along with her weaknesses: "faith, steadfastness"..."humility, meekness, hospitality, faithfulness, deep affection for her husband, sincere love toward God, and hope that never died". Sarah sometimes struggled with holding onto her hope and faith, but she always unded up on the side of faith. Sarah went where God lead her without knowing where she was going. I think it is important that the author tells us that they were raised in an urban setting and were not nomadic by nature or nurture. They chose to follow God into a journey. He was their home, their anchor, the place that they returned. Oh, Lord that my dwelling place would be You. Send me out from You and bring me back to You.
How amazing that God went to the extent of putting Abraham into a deep sleep for us to understand the His promises are dependent on Him, not on us. He is faithful and just and does not rely on us. "If Sarah had simply realized that truth and embraced it, her whole burden would have been instantly lifted."
No comments:
Post a Comment