"Sarah" Moments

"God's faithfulness means that God will always do what He said and fulfill what He has promised." -Wayne Grudem

Today I was reading through the book of Genesis (which by the way I highly recommend) and I came across one of my favorite OT stories, that of Abraham, Sarah and Issac and how God proved His faithfulness time and time again to these three. I was quickly reminded of so many Truths and I couldn't help but smile because of God's providence in my reading that specific passage even today (He knows I needed it). In Genesis we read about the covenant that God the Father made with Abraham in relation to the blessing of generations of people who would follow the one true God; what we soon see is the mistrust and sin of Abraham and Sarah as Ishmael is conceived in sin through Hagar. I don't know how many times I have wondered why on earth the two of them (Abraham and Sarah) weren't just patient and why they couldn't just trust the God that had already proved His faithfulness in their lives in the past; but then I am humbly reminded of how I too have the same attitude...how I am a modern day Sarah, or I have what I call my "sarah" moments...but don't we all?! God had a very near and dear relationship to Abraham and Sarah and had promised Abraham the blessing of a child through whom the nations would be blessed, yet in the quietness of her heart Sarah laughed at the promise because of the circumstances she found herself in (barrenness and old age, not to mention that she had waited for some time at that point, and I am sure her patience had run dry). In Genesis 18:10-14 we read,

"He said, "I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?' "Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son."

As I read over this passage once again I saw myself, I couldn't help but realize that I often am the laughing Sarah in the circumstances I find myself in, most of the time in the quietness of my own heart where only God can see. I KNOW God is faithful and I have even experienced and seen His faithfulness yet when it comes to unfulfilled desires or provisions I seem to laugh thinking that the situation is impossible, or that the time has run out, or that maybe it jsut won't happen. But is anything too difficult for the Lord? Absolutely not, obviously not! Now although I don't have the privilege of talking directly with the Lord (as in verbally) like Abraham and Sarah did, or the actual time frame of a promise answered, I do have the same privilege of talking to the Lord, the presence of His Spirit, and the response of His Word. In that I also have the ability to trust the Lord through His strength and the pirivlege of looking back over 6000 years and seeing God's perfection, His providence and His proven faithfulness time and time again. Is anything really too hard for Him? Is something too much for the God who spoke the universe into existence, the God who covered the earth with a flood and spared a family, the God who bore the sin of the world? As I am writing this I can see more and more how absurd my thinking can become, how tainted my emotions can make my focus and how often I forget the truth of who this God is. The same God who promised (and KEPT that promise proving His perfect faithfulness) Abraham and Sarah a son is the same God who has promised to never leave or forsake us and who is faithful in even the small affairs of our lives, how foolish it is to laugh in our hearts.

My prayer for myself is that I would take heed to the lesson found in Genesis 18 and remember the God I serve, and remember to hold firm to the Truth of His Word as it says in Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."