Her name means: "Chieftainness" or "Princess"
Her character: Beautiful enough to attract rulers in the
ancient world, she could be strong-willed and jealous. Yet Sarah was considered
a loyal wife who did what was right and who didn't give in to
fear.
Her sorrow: That she remained childless for most of
her life.
Her joy: That at the age of ninety, she gave birth
to Isaac, child of the promise.
Key Scriptures: Genesis 12:1-20;
16:1-8;
17:1-22;
18:1-15;
21:1-13;
Galatians 4:22-31
Her Story
Sarah was sixty-five, the age many of us retire, when she began a journey
that would lead her into uncharted spiritual territory. Leaving behind their
homeland, she and her husband, Abraham, moved hundreds of miles south to Canaan,
a land fertile with the promises of God but barren of everything cherished and
familiar. God had promised the land to Abraham and his offspring. From him would
come not just a family, clan, or tribe, but an entire nation, a people who would
belong to God as no other people had.
The promise spread like ripples from a stone pitched in water. If Abraham was
to father a new nation, surely Sarah would be its mother. Yet she longed to give
birth, not to a nation, but to one small child she could kiss and cradle.
At first Abraham and Sarah found it difficult to support themselves in their
new homeland. Soon a famine made life so severe that they moved on to Egypt,
where Abraham, fearful of Pharaoh, suggested a deceptive maneuver to save his
skin: "I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they
will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say
you are my sister [she was his half sister], so that I will be treated well for
your sake and my life will be spared because of you."
So Sarah did as her husband asked, and Pharaoh soon added her to his harem of
beautiful women. For the privilege, he paid Abraham in the currency of the day—a
bevy of sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and servants. But though the two men
seemed satisfied with their bargain, God was not. He proceeded to strike Pharaoh
and his entire household with diseases. The Egyptian ruler soon summoned
Abraham, demanding an explanation. As soon as he heard the truth, he allowed
both Sarah and Abraham to leave, taking with them all the riches they had gained
in Egypt.
So the couple moved home again. By now, several years had passed since
Abraham and Sarah had heard the remarkable promise of God, but still there was
no child. So Sarah took matters into her own hands. Following a practice common
in the ancient world, she gave Abraham permission to sleep with her Egyptian
maid, Hagar. Sarah's slave would become a surrogate mother for the promised
child.
Before long, Ishmael was born. But the child brought only discord between the
two women.
One day several years later, the Lord appeared to Abraham while he was
sitting at the entrance to his tent.
"Where is your wife, Sarah?"
"There, in the tent," Abraham replied.
Then the Lord said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year,
and Sarah your wife will have a son."
Now Sarah, who had been eavesdropping from inside the tent, laughed and said,
"After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"
But the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really
have a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will
return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."
Because Sarah was afraid, she lied and said, "I did not laugh."
But he pressed her, saying, "Yes, you did laugh."
A year later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac, whose name means "Laughter." Of
course the joke was not lost on the ninety-year-old mother, who exclaimed: "God
has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with
me."
But Sarah's humor was short-lived. Fireworks flared once again between the
two mothers until Sarah forced Hagar and Ishmael from Abraham's household,
leaving them to wander in the harsh desert. And though God provided for the two
outcasts, it was through Isaac that he would keep his promise of a new nation
and a deliverer for his people.
Sarah died at the age of 127 and was buried in Hebron. Between Isaac's birth
and her own death lay thirty-seven years, ample time to reflect on her life's
adventure with God. Was she ashamed of her treatment of the ill-fated Hagar? Did
she remember laughing when God told Abraham she would bear a child at the age of
ninety? Did she appreciate the echoing irony in young Isaac's laughter? Did she
have any idea she would one day be revered as the Mother of Israel—indeed, a
symbol of the promise just as Hagar was to become a symbol of slavery under the
law? Scripture does not say. But it is heartening to realize that God
accomplishes his purposes despite our frailties, our little faith, our
entrenched self-reliance.
True, Sarah's pragmatic attempts to help God keep his promise caused plenty
of anguish. (Even in our own day, the struggle between Israel and her Arab
neighbors stems from the ancient strife between two women and the children they
bore.) Still, despite her jealousy, anxiety, and skepticism about God's ability
to keep his promises, there's no denying that Sarah was a risk-taker of the
first order, a woman who said good-bye to everything familiar to travel to a
land she knew nothing about. A real flesh-and-blood kind of woman who lived an
adventure more strenuous than any fairy-tale heroine, an adventure that began
with a promise and ended with laughter.
Her Promise
How hard it was for Sarah (and is for us as well) to remember God's promises
and to wait for him to fulfill them. God's promises are revealed and fulfilled
in his own timing, which is often on a calendar far different from our own.
Waiting patiently for God to work may be one of the most difficult
experiences of our Christian walk. We live in an age of the immediate. We think
waiting, and doing so quietly, is somehow less worthy, perhaps even a bit lazy.
We're great "do-it-yourselfers," but we often get in God's way when we take
things into our own hands.
Do you have something you're waiting for God to do? Have you asked him for
the salvation of your husband? Of a family member? Are you praying for a
rebellious child to come home? Whatever the circumstances, God's timing is the
best timing. When you're tempted to step in and make things happen on your own,
think of Sarah. Her attempts to fulfill God's promise of a son through her
servant Hagar had disastrous results. Remember that God has his own timetable,
and rest in the assurance that he loves you and will fulfill his promises to
you. |
