The Bible is full of promises. God promised to Noah that the earth would never perish again after a flood. The Israelites living in exile in Babylon, received the promise of a hopeful future. One of the criminals hanging next to Jesus on the cross, was promised that he would be with Jesus in paradise the very same day. Sarah also received a promise from God. You will read about that promise today.
Original text: Hanneke van der Galiën
The promise to Sarah starts with a promise to her husband Abraham. One night, God led Abraham outside and let him stare at the sky (Genesis 15:5). The descendants of Abraham would become as abundant as the stars in the sky. Nevertheless, Abraham and Sarah did not have children and they became old, too old to have children. But what about Gods promise? Didn’t he promise that Abraham would get an abundance of descendants?
Then God appears to Abraham:
The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground. (Genesis 18:1-2, NLT)
After the men had eaten they asked about Sarah:
“Where is Sarah, your wife?” the visitors asked. “She’s inside the tent,” Abraham replied. Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children.
So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master – my husband – is also so old?” Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.” But the Lord said, “No, you did laugh.” (Genesis 18:9-15, NLT)
Gods promise to Sarah
Again God spoke his promise. This time He even gave a specific time: within a year, Sarah would have given birth to a son. Sarah heard this and laughed. How could she, an older woman, still have a child? She was way too old for that, right? It was impossible?
Can you imagine? You have reached an age where you cannot give birth to children anymore, but you hear that you will still have a child. How would you react? Would you, just like Sarah, laugh in unbelief or would you trust the promise God gives you?
Fortunately, God keeps his promises, despite our (faithless) reaction:
The Lord kept His word and did for Sarah exactly what He had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would.
And Sarah declared, “God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!” (Genesis 21:1-2, 6-7, NLT)
Sarah laughs again. This time not because of unbelief, no, this time because God fulfilled His promise. The very thing that nobody could ever think that would happen, happened. And why? Because God promised it. And a promise is a promise.
Get to work!
Do you recognize yourself in Sarah? God promised something, but… you are doubting. Can it happen? Is that possible? When Sarah doubted the promise of God, He reacted with two questions. Two questions you can also ask yourself today:
- Why are you laughing?
- Why do you doubt (the words of) God?
Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Instead of focusing on promises that haven’t come true yet, you can focus on the One who made those promises, God Himself!
Read the original article here.
