Are You Like Sarah?

Good morning to all, I am sorry I have been away for a while, but I am back. School has truly been a balancing act this year. However, I have still been busy studying and growing in Christ along with balancing family, school and friends. At the beginning of the year I decided to start studying women of the Bible and it has been a truly life changing experience to really look into the lives of these women and see myself. The first woman I want to talk about is Sarah.
            Sarah is one of the most beautiful women in the Bible and, her name means, “Chieftainness” or “Princess”.  Every time I reflect on the story of Sarah I remember her precisely as the wife of Abraham who could not wait on God and took matters into her own hands, a strong willed woman. Then after creating the problem, she treated Hagar, her handmaid, horribly. One could term Sarah as a “diva.” Beautiful, married to such a rich, intelligent and most important a faithful man of God. Sarah had all that she could ask for and more, God promised to make Abraham’s offspring to outnumber the stars in the sky, yet this promise was unfulfilled and she was still unhappy.
            I always looked at Sarah as the woman who just could not wait. As I studied the story in Genesis once again I saw it in a different light because I was in a different stage in my Christian walk, I was in my waiting period. As I always tell people every time that you read a scripture or story over and over you discover something new each and every time.  God’s word is constantly new and refreshing each time that you read it.

Because I was now in my waiting period, I could relate to Sarah. At first, when God made the promise to her and Abraham, I am sure that Sarah received it with joy but as time passed by and she saw that she was getting older and her child bearing age would soon be done, she began to lose faith. She just longed to have a baby of her own, one she could cradle and love. So she decided to “help” God because I feel she did not know how powerful God truly was or what He could do. So she gave Abraham Hagar, her handmaiden, and she conceived and gave birth to Ishmael. However, Sarah was jealous, her taking matters into her own hands did not make things any better, but worse. To make a long story short, God’s promise finally was fulfilled and she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy whom she named Isaac. It was through him that the promise of God was fulfilled. Even though Sarah created a mess today as we can see Ishmael’s generation in the Middle East, God still fulfilled His promise.

So I looked at my life and the season of waiting I was in. God made promises to me and I can relate to Sarah of becoming weary of waiting and wondering if the promise will ever be fulfilled. We lose faith.  And like Sarah we do take matters into our own hands. For example, those of us waiting on a husband, we change the way we dress to get more attention from men hoping to attract “the one”. We get involved with a man knowing he is not the one. Sometimes we find a man who is not saved and try to save him and make him become a man of God. We do all of these things in an attempt to “help” God fulfill the promise of a spouse.

I have looked at Sarah in a different light and realized that at times I have been just like Sarah. I have a longing to be married and I have taken things into my own hands thinking I was helping God, and it resulted in disaster. Through it all, I’ve learned that waiting patiently for God to work may be one of the most difficult experiences of our Christian walk. We live in an age of right now and we are great “do-it-yourselfers,” but we often get in God’s way when we take things into our own hands.

            So sisters, do you have something you’re waiting for God to do? Wait, I want you to know that you are beautiful and whatever you are waiting for whether it’s a husband, or an answer on which steps to take in life, wait. Whatever the circumstances, God’s timing is the best timing. When you’re tempted to step in and make things happen on your own, think of Sarah. Her attempts to fulfill God’s promise of a son through her servant had disastrous results. Remember that God has His own timetable and rest in the assurance that He loves you and will fulfill His promises to you. “God is not a man, that he should lie.” Numbers 23:19

Love you all,

Raven

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