From Sarai to Sarah to Sarah, a mother of nations
A beloved brother in Christ recently posed a question: Why did it take 25 years for Abraham and Sarah to have a son, Isaac?
From the answer to this question, there is much that we can learn and apply to our lives. My brother wrote these 2 lovely articles which I recommend you to take time to read:
- In giving the answers to why it took 25 years, he also explained how, by judging God faithful, Sarah finally conceived.
- He then encouraged us to look beyond the promise to the Promiser. "Look at the Word God has spoken to you and look at the God behind that Word."
For me, when I read the question, I said in my heart - because Sarah did not believe she could bear Abraham a son.
Let us first look at Abraham's response when God spoke to him - Although Abraham did laugh (Gen 17:17), in many more other instances, we see that he believed and obeyed (E.g. Gen 12:4, 12:7, 15:6, 17:23).
How about Sarah?
The account of Sarah listening in the tent door at the terebinth trees of Mamre (Gen 18:10) was the first record of Sarah's immediate response upon hearing God's Words.
Sarah heard it and laughed within herself. She, however, denied it when the LORD pointed it out, for she was afraid. (Gen 18:12-15).
She could not believe that she could bear a child, considering her physical circumstances.
Even before the record of the Abrahamic covenant, the Bible tells us that Sarai was barren, she had no child (Gen 11:30). And in Gen 16:2, Sarai said 'See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children.' And what's more, she said, 'go in to my maid, perhaps I shall obtain children by her.'
It is obvious that, from Sarai to Sarah, she was in unbelief. And therefore, the promise could not come to pass.
Note also how, after God changed Sarai's name to Sarah and declared her a mother of nations (Gen 17:15-16), when the three men came to Abraham at Mamre, they asked for her, addressing her as such - 'Where is Sarah your wife?' (Gen 18:9).
This implies that she knew she was now Sarah (and obviously, what God must have said about Sarah). Yet, she still had unbelief in her heart.
Although according to interpretations, both Sarai (princess) and Sarah (noblewoman) mean princess, when God changed her name, I felt it symbolizes God bringing her into the covenant 'bless her, give you a son by her, a mother of nations; kings of people shall be from her' (Gen 17:16).
Yet the promise could only come to pass when Sarah broke free from being Sarai. When she stopped looking at the physical. When she believed.
When that happened, Sarah conceived, in spite of her circumstances (age and barrenness).
Sarah arrived at her destiny, fulfilling the promise when she finally judged Him faithful who had promised (Heb 11:11), saying 'God has made me laugh' (Gen 21:6).
Dear sisters (and brothers) in Christ...
Are you like a Sarai, who looks at the current condition and accepts a 2nd best, Hagar?
Or are you like a Sarah, who still looks at her physical circumstances instead of at God's promises?
Or praise God, are you like the Sarah, who knowing nothing is too hard for the Lord, by faith judged God faithful and received strength to conceive seed?
May we be like the Sarah, knowing full well that we are a Sarah, concerning whom God has said - 'Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. (Gen 18:14)' - believed and fulfilled that which God has promised and purposed in our lives.
Side note: I did, for a short while, ponder on the possibility that Sarah may not know of the covenant between God and Abraham. After all, all the conversations happened between God and Abraham. And the Bible doesn't tell us if Abraham told Sarah these things.
So, could it be that she had not believed because she had not known the promise?
But Gen 18:9 clearly implies that Sarah knew.
And my brother in Christ pointed out the obvious.
- We should assume that Sarah knew for she is Abraham's wife. Which husband wouldn't tell his wife such important matters, right?
- If her unbelief is caused by her not knowing, God would never have waited for 25 years to speak to her.
So, we can conclude that it is not a matter of Sarah not knowing what was promised, it was simply a matter of her disbelieving the promise, which causes the delay in the fulfillment of the promise.
