Sarah Who Remembered God’s Promise: Women in the Bible Week 1

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sarah beautiful and brave

Welcome to week 1 of  our Women in the Bible: Beautiful and Brave series! To catch up on the details of the series, you can tune in here. I’m delighted that you are joining us as we explore Sarah, the wife of Abraham. I think Sarah has gotten a bit of a bad rap over the years. I’ve heard many sermons and lessons on Sarah that have discussed her response  upon the news that she would have a child. In Genesis 18, we find the story:

The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”

Prior to this passage, Sarah and Abraham were waiting for the promise of God to be fulfilled. God’s promise was that they would have as many children as the stars. At one point, Sarah got a little ahead of the game and sent her handmaids in to be with Abraham. You know, I can relate to Sarah, because I’m not so great at waiting on God’s timing either. It’s easy to think our human ideas can “help God out a little”, if you know what I mean. So, yes, Sarah gets quite the rap for her issues outlined in Scripture.

But there’s such an incredible nugget of truth tucked in the Bible about Sarah, the first mother of God’s chosen people. Have you ever heard of the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11? Take a look at verse 11:

By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

You know, Sarah had her little laugh upholding her doubts about her own physical ability to even get pregnant at her age, but I can’t help but think how brave Sarah was. She was clearly past child-bearing years and her body was thrown into a hormonal tailspin. Many of us women can hardly deal with the normal cycle of monthly hormones; can you imagine a reversal cycle? Seriously!

Since I’ve had 6 babies, I’ve tried to put myself in Sarah’s place. And honestly, I think I might have laughed in her condition also. However, she stopped laughing and took God at his Word. She willingly accepted the hormonal reversal as God’s way of keeping his promise and she knew it could only be him who kept his promise. No one else could have performed such a miracle and there was no mistake about her baby bundle of blessing. Ultimately, she was Sarah who remembered God’s promise.

Believing God’s promises and accepting his delivery method was Sarah’s specialty. There was no FedEx; just Faith.

I wonder what it must have been like for Sarah to experience this unusual physiological process. While there’s no doubt it was miraculous for her to conceive, I have pondered what it must have been like to carry a baby at her age. God must have given her body a total makeover in order to carry a baby for nine months when she was beyond child-bearing years.  Her strength had to come from him; there’s no other explanation. And that’s what I think she would tell us if we had the opportunity for an interview.

So here’s the skinny on Sarah’s beautiful and brave profile:

  • Name: Sarah
  • Occupation: Homemaker
  • Family background: Wife of Abraham, Mother to Isaac
  • Daily life: Tent dweller
  • Emotional baggage: Self-doubt, Fear, Unbelief
  • Weaknesses: Eavesdropping, Laughing inappropriately
  • Beauty secret: Believing God, Receptive to his will, Faithful to his promises
  • Act of bravery: Accepted a total physiological makeover in order to allow God to fulfill his promise through her, by not only conceiving a child, but carrying him safely through birth. All at 90 years of age!

Sarah certainly inspires me to be one who considers God faithful to keep his promises.

new whimsical wed

Bloggers, I’m thrilled to have your 100% Christian encouragement  linkups this Whimsical Wednesday. If you have chosen to participate in the Women in the Bible series and link up your post about Sarah, then I plan to choose and highlight one of your posts here on the blog next week.

Rachel

 



9 Comments

  1. Hi I’m new to your blog I’m looking forward to the weeks to come gonna share with my mom for sure xo

  2. hey! I am in love with your blog! I would like to request a woman for our new study! What about Rizpah? She was one of sail’so concubines from 2 Samuel 3 and 21. She lost everything and still stayed strong. Rizpah guarded her sons dead bodies after they were hanged for being heir to the throne. Rizpah was so heroic and Most people don’t even know her name.

  3. My husband and I have been teased that we are Abraham and Sarah for adopting children in our 50’s. Knowing how I feel, and the stamina to just take care of children full-time at our ages, it was more than just the physiological changes for those 9 months for Sarah. Just the sheer stamina to take care of Isaac after he was born is a miracle getting up for night feedings, changing him, watching him as he became a toddler, we know about those years.

    I marvel at how much it took for her just take care of Isaac and her daily tasks. I’m sure she had servants help with the childcare, but Sarah was still responsible to oversee the running of a large household without modern conveniences, and living in a tent.

    She also was in the harems of two different men during times of famine. Abraham said she was his sister, so she was fair game, and it was to save his skin because they could have killed him and still took Sarah to their harem. She went along with it, and was vulnerable to the advances of these men. The Lord did protect her, but it also took bravery on her part to obey Abraham. Women did not have much say in a harem. If you were summoned, you were summoned. She is an amazing woman!

  4. Great start to what will be an awesome series! Can’t wait to read more.

  5. From her emotional baggage to her beauty secret… B.E.A.Utiful! Thank you for this encouragement today!
    Blessings!

  6. Awesome!!!!! Can you imagine what was going thru her head when Abraham was tested with sacrificing her only son? She was a very strong woman.

  7. I look forward to reading and learning about Sarah. This is the first series I have followed and look forward to new information that I hadn’t study yet. Thank you for putting these together for others.

  8. I love how you described Sarah in her profile. A simple yet encompassing view of what Sarah was all about. I’m already loving this series and look forward to reading more in the coming weeks. I would love to have a printable of each of the women’s profiles that you highlight throughout the series. It would be a quick reference to use in the future. Have a beautiful Wednesday!

  9. This was such a blessing to my heart 🙂 I felt like Sarah 5 years ago. My daughters were 19 &16 and the doctor said there would be more kids and God blessed us with Chloe Grace. I was 38 and my husband was 42 🙂 she has been a blessing 🙂 thanks for sharing 🙂

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