Waiting...

I have always had a special affection for Sarah, Abraham's wife. I have felt close to her, for some reason. I feel like I understand her - the things that she had to go through. Sarah didn't have it easy. One day, she was hanging out with Abraham - then Abram - when God called him. He told Abram to get up, leave his country, his relatives and his father's family and to to a land "I will show you." It doesn't sound like God told him where that would be. He told Abram he would show him. God promised Abram that He would bless him and make him famous. So it says Abram got up, grabbed up his wife and his nephew and hit the bricks. I have always wondered what Sarah said when Abram came and told her God had told them to leave everything they loved. The Bible makes no mention of Sarah making any argument. But I have always wondered...

So Sarah leaves with Abram. And despite Abram's mistakes and mistrust, God blessed Abram greatly and promised him his descendents would be more numorous then the stars in the sky. He promised Abram because of his faith, he would be counted righteous.

Sarah, though, wasn't buying it. And I don't think Abram was either, honestly. Because when Sarah brought her servant to Abram and told him to let Hagar give him children instead of her, Abram didn't say no. He took Hagar into his bed and got her pregnant. This was a huge lapse in judgement that would effect generation after generation of people. Ishmael is known as an important patriarch and prophet of Islam. Muslims believe that Muhammad is a descendent of Ishmael that would establish a great nation as promised by God in the Old Testament. This denial of the promise of God is still effecting the world today.

At this point, Abram is 87 years old. That seems too old to have any children, right? It seemed too old to Abram and Sarah, too. But it was at this point that God gives Abram his new name - Abraham - and promises him again that he will have a nation of descendents. Abraham and Sarah laugh at the thought. Genesis 18:12 tells us that Sarah laughed and said, "How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master, my husband, is also so old?"

And this is where Sarah and I connect. Sarah married a man before either one of them really knew God. Then her husband was called and that also meant that Sarah was called. Sarah had to not only have faith in God, but she had to have faith in Abraham to follow him when he told her he heard the voice of God. She had to trust God and Abraham when Abraham let her be collected by the Egyptians. She had to believe in God and Abraham when she was told she would bear a son. In her 90's, though, she couldn't hold on any more. She had let that dream go - she thought that God had forgotten about her and there was no way he could make good on his promise.

What she didn't know is that our God thinks outside the box. As Sarah saw first hand, a man can get any young woman can get pregnant. But it takes a miracle from God for a woman in her 90's to not only get pregnant, but get through childbirth and then care for a young baby. And Sarah got the humor in it. In Genesis 21:6, when Isaac is finally born, Sarah declares,"God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me."

I know what Sarah was feeling when she brought Hagar to Abraham. God saved my husband, then me. After we were saved, everything we knew and thought we knew was stripped away to nothing. We have been lifted away from our family and friends and placed in desolate Atlanta. Okay, Atlanta isn't the desert. But it isn't home. I thought I new what my life would be 5 years ago. It is not now what I thought it would be. I've gone from having a career that I thought I would always have to being a wife, mom and having an extra child. God has blessed us during this time, so much, but it has still been pretty scary. We don't worship a tame lion. There's no telling what God is going to do.

But one thing I have learned is that God keeps his promises. Just like God kept his promise to Sarah, I know God will keep his promises to me. But this is what really blows my mind. Genesis records Sarah's doubt of God's promises. But in Hebrews 11:11 - Sarah is still counted as having faith. The writer of Hebrews tells us that it was by faith that Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and old. "She believed that God would keep his promises."

Even though Sarah's faith wavered, she is still counted as having faith. God still saw her as faithful. I can't tell you what hope that brings me. What joy that makes me feel. I pray that God will still see me as faithful despite how I have doubted His promises. I pray that I can trust Him, and not try to make is promises come to pass my own way. I want to wait on God. I want to have what God promised His way b/c I know that is what is best. But - confession time - I am afraid I will be 90 before it happens. What if I'm too old to really enjoy it when God is ready to fulfill his promises? I suppose I will have to do what Sarah did and laugh along with everyone else - right?

No- we don't worship a God that will be told what to do. We don't worship a God who will bend to our will. And I love God for saving me. So I will wait on Him to tell me to move. I just need to stay ready for the call and be ready to jump when He says go! I pray I don't get lazy and tired. I pray I will be ready. Because I want to do what God has called me and I want to experience God's promise. So I will wait. Like Sarah.