The first woman of faith
Previously we looked at a woman who lied to God’s face, and today we will focus on the first woman of faith in the Bible. The same woman in that story is the same for today.
Sarah, wife of Abraham (she was also his half-sister on his Father’s side) and mother of Isaac, had a challenge believing that after waiting 90 years, God would finally bless her with a son. Her unbelief is understandable within our human minds of limited understanding as they were both in age, but she laughed at God in Genesis 18:13 and then lied in v15 when God confronted her. Now, let’s not look down on Sarah, because we all try to lie to God – let’s be honest.
Another issue
But that isn’t her only failure. Sarah, like many take-charge people, decided that God was taking too long to give her a child (God promised Abraham that he would become a father of many, but Sarah was barren and couldn’t have any children), so she gave permission for her maidservant to sleep with her husband Abraham so that he will have a child.
Ahhhhhhhhhh….. Okkkkk!
You see how we can mess things up! And Sarah isn’t alone. We all mess up! We get impatient and decide to take things into our own hands instead of leaving them to God. To be fair to Sarah, it was a common practice in her day to have maidservants bear children for husbands.
Her blessing
But, as you can imagine, things got a bit interesting for Sarah after, but here is the amazing thing about Sarah’s story. God forgave Sarah and blessed her. Blessed her in such a way that she is one of the few honoured women of the bible:
- At 90, she bore a son and called him Isaac (the child of promise). When Sara died, at the age of 127, and was buried by her husband of 60 years, it is the first reference to a man weeping in the bible and the only time that Abraham is mentioned as weeping (Genesis 23:2).
- The revelation of her age at her death is a great honour bestowed on Sarah as she was the only female in the bible in which her age was recorded at death.
- The prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 51:2 declared Sarah as the mother of the Hebrew people.
- Many New Testament writers spoke of her inward spiritual beauty, submissiveness to her husband and a spiritual hero of the faith.
- She was crowned a woman of faith (the first woman listed in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11) because she had faith in what God can do (her doubt was what God could do through her)!
Reflections
Food for thought: No matter how you mess things up, God can and will forgive you. Don’t let the devil have you believe in his lies. Do you feel like your life is on hold? It is a part of God’s master plan – don’t give up. And lastly, don’t put God in a box – He is all-powerful and can do the impossible!
Prayer: God of love and forgiveness, Your word tells us in Isaiah 40:28 that Your understanding no one can fathom. Forgive us when we don’t understand, and instead of coming to You or waiting patiently, we decide to take things into our own hands and make a bigger mess of the situation. Your mercy and love we do not deserve, but we thank You. Thank you, Lord. Amen
God’s grace, mercy and peace to you.
