| “By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.” – Hebrews 11:11 |
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| WITH GOD SAYING IT SARAH BELIEVED IT As God gives a promise to Abraham in Genesis 18 that in his old age he will have a son, there is another person who is going to have to have faith. That person is Abraham’s wife, SARAH. You might recall her initial reaction was not belief but LAUGHTER. She did not just doubt the idea of her having a child, she LAUGHED AT IT!! It is worth reading the moment: Starting at Genesis 18:10 we read, “And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” 13 And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child since I am old?’ 14 “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!” You kind of feel a little bad for Sarah. She got caught laughing on the inside about what God was promising and then got caught lying about laughing. Definitely a pretty embarrassing moment for Sarah with God. This is one of those stories you would like to see fully unfold because at some point later Sarah is going to move from doubt and disbelief to belief. At some point, Genesis 18:14 is going to grip her heart and she is going to believe what God has said. While we don’t have the full story laid out for us, we do have the cliff notes from Hebrews 11:11. After laughing and being rebuked for laughing and lying and being confronted for lying SARAH is going to make a judgment call on God. Hebrews 11:11 says she JUDGED Him. Other versions will translate the word to be SHE CONSIDERED Him. The idea of the word is to weigh carefully or to think through thoroughly. For Sarah, it was not WHAT was said that changed her mind but WHO said it. Hearing that you will be having a child when both you and your husband are too old is hard to believe. And it would have probably continued to be hard to believe if a family member or a friend or even some stranger had said It. What moved Sarah from doubting to believing was WHO said it. She evaluated God and she judged Him FAITHFUL! At some moment SARAH said GOD SAID IT and I BELIEVE HIM because when God says He is going to do something HE DOES IT! HE IS FAITHFUL! For you who are being challenged to take a step of faith with something that seems absolutely undoable, you are going to have to grow in your knowledge of WHO is guiding you to make the decision. Psalm 9:10 says, “And those who know Your name put their trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.” While the WHAT that God calls you to do may scare you and bring huge doubts you must FOCUS on the WHO that is speaking, not the WHAT. Know His character. If He is calling you He is faithful to perform it. God provided what Sarah needed when she had faith to believe that HE COULD! Verse to DATE the Word on November 11 (11/11) is Hebrews 11:11. Hebrews 11:11 says, “By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.” Where God guides, HE provides. Believe Him. Continue Strong considering Him FAITHFUL And remember to DATE THE WORD |