Laughing with Sarah by Kim Grant

There are many heroes of faith in the Scriptures and Sarah is found among them. Despite displaying her feet of clay on more than one occasion, she lived a life which reflected her trust in God and His purposes for her.

 

‘Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands. Sarah, for instance, taking care of Abraham, would address him “as my dear husband”. You’ll be true daughters of Sarah if you do the same, unanxious and unintimidated.’ (The Message).

There are very few women who are mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments and so this reference to Sarah in 1 Peter 3:4-6 as a shining example of a life lived in companionship with Abraham, sharing his hope and his faith in God’s promise and knowing the power of God in her life to accomplish the humanly impossible, is one to sit up and take notice of. Especially as she is mentioned in the roll call of spiritual heroes in Hebrews 11 whose ‘acts of faith distinguished them and set them above the crowd’(v2).

We are deemed to be her spiritual daughters if we have hearts that have that ‘imperishable quality’ that Father delights in. A high calling indeed. And yet I take comfort that Sarah was far from perfect!

Her character is a blending of both light and shade and yet her life is defined by her belief in the One Who made a promise that He would do what He said.

In looking briefly at Sarah’s journey we can learn some lessons;

·        Deal with the past

The first time we meet Sarai in Genesis 11:29 we are faced with a blunt statement: ‘Sarai was barren; she had no child.’

Here is a woman whose identity is dominated by her lack of ability to produce a child, something she had no control over. On a personal and cultural level she must have been acutely aware of a deficit in her life. The name Sarai means ‘she that strives’, a contentious person, a character trait that is certainly seen to raise its head once or twice in her exchanges with both Abraham and Hagar!

It is important to our sense of self worth and our walk with Father to allow the truth of

2 Cor 5:16-17 to become woven into the very fabric of our hearts. ‘So from now on we regard no-one from a worldly point of view. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!’ For many this is a confession we make with every new day as we no longer look at ourselves and past failings but we see ourselves with the eyes of faith growing up into the ‘full stature of Christ’ (Eph 4:13). We do not want to be women who continually have to strive and struggle with issues that our old lives seek to put upon us.

·        Don’t live with half truths

Sarah, at Abraham’s urging, lived under the double relationship she shared with her husband ~ she was also his half sister and it was this connection that was at the forefront of their dealings with both Pharoah and Abimelech. When there was a lack of faith in God to protect their lives, they sought their safety at the price of Sarah’s honour.

We each one of us have a destiny in God to be fulfilled. We each one of us have a truth to enter into. We need to keep a constant check on ourselves that we don’t compromise on that truth and settle for something less than the best. The reality that Sarah was living in was not a lie but it was far from the fullness that Father intended. We need to be careful that we have an ‘undivided heart’ (Ps 86:11) and hear what Paul had to say in Gal 5:7-10;

‘You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the One Who calls you. "A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough". I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view.’

I know from my own experience that expedience does not always have the expected result! And when that kind of yeast permeates through our life, the end product is unpalatable and we need to start again.

If we look to do things Father’s way and by His timetable, ‘in His good time He will lift you up. So let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.’ (1 Pet 5:6-7)

It’s the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth that will bring us to the place that Father wants us to be.

·        God doesn’t need a hand!

It is so tempting to help God out with the working of His promises as if He needs it!

Sarah got tired of waiting and so engineered an heir through her maidservant Hagar, a perfectly legitimate thing to do in the culture of her day. “Perhaps I can build a family through her” (Gen 16:2).

How very true the words, ‘"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD’ (Isa 55:8).

We need to rely on Father’s promise to us and know that ‘He has made everything appropriate in its time’ (Eccl 3:11) and so we are encouraged not to grow weary in doing good, not to become tired of confessing His Word, not to look for ways around His time frame, but to ‘reap a harvest at the proper time if we do not give up’ (Gal 6:9).

We do not want to end up with second best, which is very likely to happen if we meddle. Hagar bore Ishmael, a source of contention and frustration for Sarah. Father, by His grace, still blessed her with the intended fruit, Isaac.

Let us learn to trust God to bring about the fulfillment of His promises over our lives and avoid the temptation to work it out for Him. It could save us a lot of grief!

·        Let God change your name

In making a blood covenant (circumcision) with Abram, Father changed his name to Abraham, a father of a multitude and Sarai to Sarah, a mother of nations.

Father established His promise in their lives at the fundamental level of their names. The name was a sign of something quite outward, something to be worked out in reality. They believed there was a vital connection between the name and the person it identified, that it represented something of the nature of the person. The giving of a new name was often liked to a crucial turning point in the person’s life.

Jesus has made a blood covenant with each one of us and we ‘will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow’ (Is 62:2).

It’s as we welcome our new name, our new identity in Him that we are able to move into all the promise of that name. How do we enjoy such a place? 2 Cor 3:6 tells us that ‘He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant-- not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life’.

We are to look to Him for more and more of His Spirit. It’s only when we take our feet off the bottom of the river that we can be carried along in the flow. Scary, but necessary if we are to fully live in the good of all that He has for each one of us.

What’s your name in God? What does He want to say about you?

·        Have faith

When the Lord visited Abraham at the trees of Mamre, and asked him, “Where is your wife Sarah?”, and went on to promise, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?" Then 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." Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh." But he said, "Yes, you did laugh."(Gen 18:9-15)

Here was the Lord not only confirming the word that a son, Isaac, was to be born to Sarah but now He puts a date on it! Sarah’s response was to laugh. Why did she do that?

Perhaps she thought this was too good to be true and so couldn’t find it within herself to believe it, it was the laughter of doubt.

Perhaps it was the tired laughter of disappointment. She had waited long years for the promise to be fulfilled.

Perhaps it was the laughter of seeing the mountain in her life with her natural eyes rather than engaging her spirit. "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"  

If we are not careful we can find ourselves slipping into unbelief as time passes and we are waiting on Father to fulfill His word over our lives, to seeing His blessing, His healing, His provision released into our reality.

Heb 11:1 reminds us that ‘faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.’ When we speak to the mountains in our lives, Jesus gives us the key; "Have faith in God," (Mark 11:22).

Somehow Sarah must have moved from her position of reproof by the Lord, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”, to a place of faith to receive her promise as we read in Heb 11:11 that ‘by faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.’

Father is always, always faithful to His promises. We can base our trust in that very fact.

When Isaac was finally born, Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." (Gen 21:6)

When we live in faith, Father turns our laughter of disbelief to laughter of joy!

My aim is to become more like Sarah, no longer constrained by past events, wholeheartedly living in the truth, relying on Father’s perfect timing, flowing in His Spirit, secure in my identity and living a life marked by faith. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to say, “Laugh with me at what God has done!”