Behind every man there is a good woman. Not a perfect woman, but a good woman. Although the Hagar situation was an epic fail on Sarah’s part, I’m voting for Sarah, aka Mrs. Abraham, as saint of the year if it comes up for a vote. Think about what the poor woman endured over the course of her life at the hands of Abraham.
Her life was fine and dandy until one day Abraham told her to ‘saddle up, we are moving to a new place. Oh, and by the way, I don’t really know where we are going…we are just going and will figure it out on the way.’
Have mercy! No woman in her right mind would be thrilled about that. What about the house? What can I take with me? The silver? The china? My favorite chair? How many clothes can I take on those donkeys? Will there be a good doctor there? And where will I get my hair done in the new town?
As if that were not bad enough, Abe decided that she should say she was his sister when they rolled into the big city. You see, she was quite a looker, that Sarah, and Abraham was afraid the king would have him killed in order to make Sarah part of his harem if it got our they were married. Well, Abraham’s plan nearly got Sarah married off to the king! Had it not been for the plagues the Lord brought on the king, Sarah would have been Mrs. Pharaoh rather than Mrs. Abraham.
Then there was the business with Lot. He was a selfish brat and always wanted the best for himself and it got him in a peck of trouble. Abraham was always going off to rescue Lot from his latest escapade. They should have left him in Ur!!
It worried Abraham so much that he had no heir to leave his fortune and blessing to. Sarah decided she would fix the situation and that is where the Hagar debacle happened. That horror followed her the rest of her life. It never occurred to her that she might be the one to provide Abraham an heir. Seriously? She was 90 years old. Those kinds of things just do not happen to women her age. Do they?
The thing that likely cause Sarah the most gray hair on her head and wrinkles on her face, however, was the time when Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac to the Lord. This was their only child and the child of their old age. Sarah thought it a bit weird when Abe loaded up the donkeys, the servants and Isaac and headed out to who-knows-where to offer a sacrifice. However, ole Abe was getting on up there and she just assumed he was having a moment, so she did not ask any questions. Big mistake!!! It was a blessing she did not know what he was up to beforehand. I’m not sure her heart would have agreed to the plan, even if it was from God. Just saying……
Yes, Sarah certainly deserves some sort of award for patience and endurance in my book.
Today, let’s narrow our focus to the one frame in God’s Hall of Faith that focuses on Sarah and find out what really pleased God about her; what would cause God to esteem her as a woman of great faith. Consider Hebrews 11: 11-12 (NAS):
By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive , evenbeyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. 12 Thereforethere was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THESTARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.
Come back next week and let’s finish our visit with Sarah.
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