Hebrews 11:11-12 NIV
[11] And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. [12] And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
There are so many situations that have been badly misunderstood and misread. A passing glance can quickly lead to us getting the wrong impression.
I remember my mother once telling us of a schoolboy who once one a prize in school for opening an eye. This was in the same week that my daughter took home prizes in multiple subjects at high school.
Now, it would be very easy to write off that prize for opening an eye as being political correctness gone wrong. Until, that is, I tell you that the prize was given to a boy with a severely life-limiting disability in a special school who previously had never opened his eyes.
Suddenly we see the achievement.
Sarah is one of those Bible characters who is prone to being severely misjudged. Yes, here in Hebrews she is given her place in the Hall of Faith. And, on the face of it, it is deserved.
But a cursive read of Genesis quickly exposes her frequent battles with unbelief.
For example, it is through her decision to replace God’s promise with her own conniving that Ishmael, the forefathers of the Arabic races, is born, and it is her mistreatment of his mother, Hagar, that causes her to flee (Genesis 16).
When she overheard a heavenly apparition in which her child-bearing is predicted, she laughs (Genesis 18:9-13).
Even after she gives birth to Isaac, at the incredibly ripened age of ninety, it is her mistreatment of Ishmael and his mother that sees them leave for good (Genesis 20:8-14).
Are these the actions of someone you would regard as faithful?
And yet Sarah is there, in black and white.
Why?
As we explore this accolade, we will learn more about God: His character, His compassion and His grace. Because what we see here is an expression of all three, and more.
The first thing we see here is Sarah’s situation.
What we know about Sarah is that there is a ten-year age gap between her and Abraham.
So when the Bible tells us that Abraham was seventy-five when he left Harran (Genesis 12:4), that means Sarah was sixty-five.
So even at the time when she headed to the Promised Land with Abraham, fertility, children and even the menopause were already less than a speck in her rear view mirror.
Genesis 11:30 sums up her state before she even left their home in Ur:
Genesis 11:30 NIV
[30] Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive. https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.11.30.NIV
Nowadays, to be in this situation is sad.
However, wave after wave of feminism means that women are no longer seen as veritable baby factories and their dignity no longer depends on their ability to conceive. I’m sure they are very, very grateful for this.
But in Sarah’s day, that was far from the case.
And there is another sting in the tale.
God told Abraham that he would have a child with Sarah (Genesis 15:4-6, 17:3-8, 18:9-15). Yet it took twenty-five years for God’s promise to come true. Twenty-five long years. Sarah was ninety years old and Abraham was a hundred when Isaac was finally born (Genesis 21:5-7).
So Sarah’s situation through this long and difficult season of life is that she was barren, was told that she would bear a son, and yet had to wait twenty-five years for it to happen.
Even elephants have a shorter gestation period. Twenty-five times shorter.
Often times, especially when it comes to travel, we come across ‘Expectation versus Reality’ videos on the internet. I remember one that caused some consternation. It was shot in Bali. Expectations for Bali are pristine, white-sand, coconut palm fringed paradise beaches. Yet one influencer almost got herself kicked out the country by showing dirty beaches and noisy transport-clogged roads.
The Indonesian government were furious.
Sarah might have been deeply downcast by her physical condition, but God’s promise would have raised her expectations.
The reality of her twenty-five year wait must have been incredibly difficult.
And that leads us on from her situation to Sarah’s struggle.
Let there be no doubt at all, this was a struggle. We see signs of it in the Bible.
We see her blaming her lack of a child on God, and using this as a reason for Abraham to marry her slave, Hagar (Genesis 16:2).
We see the aggravation between Sarah and Hagar when Hagar is pregnant (Genesis 16:4-6).
We see her laughing at the prospect of giving birth to Isaac (Genesis 18:10-12).
And, as if to top it all off, while Abraham and Sarah have managed, at last, to sire one boy, Abraham’s brother Nahor has given birth to eight children through his wife and four through his concubine (Genesis 22:20-24).
Let there be no doubt that Sarah struggled. Of course this was difficult. Of course it hurt. Only a childless couple who long for children but struggle to conceive could ever sympathise with this.
But Sarah's wavering and her blaming of God for her predicament, not to mention the poor decision to have Abraham marry and sire a child through her servant Hagar, must be seen in the light of the enormous pain she had to endure.
All this while, all around her, people who did not serve God, and were, in fact, serving idols with rituals that were far beyond barbaric, were giving birth left, right and centre, while building cities and settling down.
It must have felt like their lives – the lived of people who had no thought of God – were progressing, while hers was stalled, and for the long term.
Have you ever felt like that?
If so, you stand beside Sarah.
But as well as examining her situation and her twenty-five year long struggle, we must also see Sarah’s fulfilment.
And what an awesome blessing this was:
Genesis 21:1-7 NIV
[1] Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. [2] Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. [3] Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. [4] When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. [5] Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. [6] Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” [7] And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
At the ripe old age of ninety, Sarah gives birth to Isaac.
Isaac becomes the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of the tribes of Israel.
Sarah receives a reward that truly deserves her name of ‘exalted mother’. And how beautiful it is!
How wonderful it is!
No wonder she laughs – this time for joy.
But at the same time, there seems to be a deep irony between what is said about her in Genesis and what is said about her in Hebrews.
Why is that?
I believe that the best explanation of it comes from a New Testament miracle:
Mark 9:17-27 NIV
[17] A man in the crowd answered, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. [18] Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.’ [19] ‘You unbelieving generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.’ [20] So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. [21] Jesus asked the boy’s father, ‘How long has he been like this?’ ‘From childhood,’ he answered. [22] ‘It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.’ [23] ‘ “If you can”?’ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’ [24] Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’ [25] When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. ‘You deaf and mute spirit,’ he said, ‘I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.’ [26] The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, ‘He’s dead.’ [27] But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
Like with Sarah, it would be wrong for us to minimise the suffering and the strain on the family in those days that would be caused by having an epileptic child. There were no drugs to control it, no scans to measure it, no neuroscientists to understand it.
Seeing a child taking a fit nowadays can be scary. Imagine what it would have seemed like two thousand years ago.
Especially one whose fits, as his father outlined, often caused him physical harm.
We can I hope, empathise with his father. He would have struggled for most, if not all, of his son’s life with his dangerous condition. Yes, Jesus represented hope. But maybe he had hoped before and was a little guarded in case that hope came to nothing, again.
Hence his prayer. Hence his struggle with unbelief.
Yet Jesus still heals his son!
Friends, the life of Sarah teaches us very important lessons on the true meaning of faith.
When life is easy, faith comes easily too.
But when we are stretched almost to breaking point, that’s when faith becomes a struggle and a battle.
The fact that Sarah, and the struggling father Abraham, both received the thing for which they longed tells us that God knows. He sees our struggles. He sees our anxieties. He sees our problems.
And He understands.
So whether your faith journey right now is one of sunlit uplands or of clinging on to your fingertips, I want you to be encouraged by Sarah’s journey.
Even when our faith is as small as a mustard seed, God still will come through for us.
And that makes all the difference.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You for people like Sarah, whose struggles are clearly documented in Your Word. I do believe. Help me through the times when I struggle with unbelief. Amen.
Questions
1. What was the cause of Sarah’s struggles? What can we take from this, even if we are not going through the same struggles?
2. How did God uphold her in her struggle? What was the result of her struggle?
3. Is it right and fitting that Sarah is listed as a hero of faith?
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