GENESIS 18:10 10
Then the LORD [a]
said, "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. 11
Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years,
and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12
So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and
my master [b]
is old, will I now have this pleasure?" 13
Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I
really have a child, now that I am old?' 14
Is anything too hard for the LORD ? I will return to you at the
appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."
A
devotional this morning really caught my eye. It was based on
Genesis 18:10-13, where God spoke to Abraham and told him that by
next year at this time, he and Sarah would have a son. Well, Sarah
was listening and clearly heard the word. Her reaction was to laugh
and make fun of the word.
Now
before we judge Sarah harshly and say “Oh that bad, bad Sarah;
imagine laughing at God’s promise and not believing”…let’s be fair
to her and think of all she’d been through and how many years she’d
been waiting—AND WHAT HER PRESENT CONDITION WAS.
Sarah was 90 years old—no Spring chicken.
(More like a sprung chicken). She was past the time of childbearing
and according to the scriptures, she and Abraham weren’t intimate
anymore. And, she had once believed and waited...and waited and
waited and waited. She’d even tried to take matters into her own
hands by offering her servant Hagar to Abraham to get a son through
her----and what a mess that produced. She just was tired, weary, and
no longer expecting anything. It wasn’t that she didn’t love God or
believe in Him. She just thought that somehow she had lost out on
the promise. Either God changed His mind—didn’t really say it in the
first place---or she and Abraham had blown their chances by their
actions.
MAYBE SOME OF YOU CAN SEE SOME PARALLELS TO THIS IN YOUR LIFE. I
KNOW I CAN. We all can look back at things we’ve done and wonder if
we’ve blown our chances because of them.
But, none of those things were true for Abraham and Sarah--and
they're not true for us either.
God really had promised it and He had not changed His mind
(He rarely does). And, she and Abraham had not blown it. God knew
all about their weaknesses before He even gave the promise. He also
knew how long it was going to take and when they would actually be
ready to receive their promise. They thought it would be while they
were young. God knew better.
GOD
KNOWS OUR WEAKNESSES TOO. AND, HE KNOWS THE EXACT TIME THAT IS
RIGHT FOR US TO RECEIVE THE PROMISE.
THIS WAS THE TIME FOR ABRAHAM AND SARAH, AND IT WAS GOING TO
HAPPEN—JUST THE WAY HE SAID IT WOULD.
AND
IT DID. God rejuvenated
Sarah and Abraham...to the point that, a year later she was desired
by a king for the second time in her life. Now, I would love to have
a king want me for a wife when I’m ninety. Not that I want to be
married to anyone other than my husband—but can you imagine? Instead
of collecting retirement, worrying about wrinkles and age spots and
wondering where I’m going to be buried---a king says
“that woman is so beautiful that I want her for my wife!”. How
cool is that?
And, I
want to point out that Abraham was still up to his old
tricks---getting Sarah to lie and say she was his sister just to
keep him safe. After all those years and all those lessons, he and
Sarah still let fear cause them to do the wrong thing, but God
did NOT say “okay that’s it! I’ve had it with you two! Forget about
the promise!” GOD DID NOT LET THAT STOP THE PROMISE OR THE PROPHECY.
He knew that Abraham and Sarah (despite evidence to the contrary)
really had changed. Yes, they messed up again, but this time they
really were repentant and ready to receive the promise.
When I read this it gives me such encouragement—and fuels my
faith—which is what God’s Word is supposed to do.
SO
HERE IS THE MESSAGE THIS MORNING; NO MATTER WHAT HAS HAPPENED OR HOW
LONG IT’S BEEN SINCE GOD MADE THE PROMISE. NO MATTER WHAT YOU’VE
DONE OR HOW YOU’VE FAILED—OR CONVERSELY, HOW YOU SUCCEEDED AND STILL
NOTHING HAPPENED---GOD IS FAITHFUL AND HE WILL DO WHAT HE PROMISED.
YOU
WILL RECEIVE THE BLESSING.
What is it that you are waiting for? What is the desire of your
heart and the thing that you have believed God for? WHAT DID GOD
TELL YOU? WHAT DOES HIS WORD TELL US THAT WE SHALL HAVE?
GET
READY TO HEAR GOD SAY “IT’S TIME"---OR "IT’S ALMOST TIME”
GET READY FOR GOD TO EVEN GIVE YOU A TIME FRAME.
GENESIS 21:1-7 1 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah
as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.
2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to
Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son
Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was
eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him.
5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his
son Isaac was born to him. 6 Sarah said,
"God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will
laugh with me." 7 And she added, "Who would
have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have
borne him a son in his old age."
Sarah did get pregnant and bear a son to Abraham. They called him
“Isaac” which means “laughter”. But, instead of the laughter of a
bitter and mocking soul, it was the laughter of joyous fulfillment
and wonder. Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90—and they had their
child. Sarah raised him and lived to be 137 years old. She watched
him become a man.
WHAT ARE THE
PROMISES YOU ARE BELIEVING FOR? Is it for your family? For healing?
For salvation? For financial relief? Whatever it is, it is not too
hard for God.
When God brings you
out of the time of waiting into the time of promise—when you receive
the blessings that you have been waiting for, YOU WILL LAUGH WITH
JOY. After all…IS
ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD?
