One day Abraham, after year of trying to have a child, goes to the lord and he cry’s to the lord saying “Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless?” And the Lord reminded him that his posterity would be greater than the all the stars in the heavens. The lord even reconfirmed this by showing it to him in a vision.
Now I don’t know about you but I know I have asked the Lord the same thing! I have asked if I will be left childless and if we will be blessed with children. For me the answer has always been to be patient and that the time will come for us to be parents. Even though I have been told this several times, it is hard to trust in those feelings and have faith that I will be blessed. I find myself feeling the same way that Sarah felt.
Sarah knew of the prophecy that their posterity would be great, but when she had borne him no children and it was hard for her to see her part in that prophecy. She wanted he husband to have children and she would do anything for him to have that deep desire of his soul. Now in Sarah’s time it was custom if the wife could not bear children that the husband could take another who could. So Sarah in all goodness of her heart offered her handmaiden, Hagar, to Abraham. This is what she said, “Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of [Sarah].”(Genesis 16:2)
In her acts you could see how much she loved Abraham! I think one of the hardest things as women is to see the heart ache in others. One of the hardest things about this trial of infertility is that at this moment I cannot bear children for my husband. Although my husband doesn’t talk a lot about it, I know that his desire to have children is as deep as mine. And I, like Sarah, would do almost anything to help make our husbands fathers.
Well Hagar did conceive but because she hated Sarah, she was thrown out. Though she was cast out she was blessed with a son named Ishmael. Although Hagar had a child and now Abraham now had seed the prophecy was not fulfilled. Sarah still had a big part to play in that prophecy.
Years down the road when Abraham and Sarah are “old and well stricken with age” and
“it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women” (Genesis 18:11), Abraham cares for three holy men. As the holy men are about to leave, they prophesy that Sarah will become pregnant and deliver a son. Now Sarah heard this and she laughed.
In all fairness to her I think if I were in the same situation I would laugh too. But the Lord knew that Sarah had laughed at the prophecy and he stated, “Wherefore did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Gen. 12-13). I think that this shows great mercy from the lord because instead of punishing her for her disbelief, he just questioned her and reminded her that all things are possible, if it is his will.
In the end Sarah ends up giving birth to a son and they named him Isaac. Isaac goes on to fulfill the prophecy and Abraham’s seed is now unnumbered, like unto the sands of the seas.
Sarah’s strength as a woman is amazing! This story really shows how her patience was tried. She had to wait till she was old and well stricken with years before she was blessed with the innate desire of her soul. I know that we will not have to wait as long as she did to be able to have children and at times it feels like we too will be stricken with years when that blessing will come, but if we can take on lesson from Sarah, it is worth the wait.
Great post, In my struggles with infertility, thats the story that gave me comfort, even though like you and Sarah, I did got tired of waiting and often times gave up hope of every having children. I saw my infertility window closing right before me, but thanks to God and the fact that he does keep his promises we had our son when I was 38 years old.
ReplyDeleteALL THE BEST and remain hopeful as hard as I know it is.