Sarah
Open Your Bible
Genesis 17:15-22, Genesis 18:1-15, Genesis 20:1-18, Genesis 21:1-7, Philippians 1:6
BY Melanie Rainer
My backyard garden is an unrealized dream. A few months ago we sowed and scattered seeds with the haphazard helping hands of my four-year-old daughter. Despite multiple warnings not to do so, she dumped an entire container of bird seed alongside my hoped-for flowers. In addition, the sod we ripped up to make room for the garden left rows of roots that like to pop up, and no matter how many times I rip them out, they always seem to show up again.
Now I cannot tell weeds from future blooms, and the hours I spent trying to cultivate a beautiful cut-flower garden seem fruitless (or, flowerless). I know that eventually, the real flowers will bloom, and then I can root out the weeds that have grown.
Sarah’s life was marked by a root of bitterness, a weed that made her scoff at God’s promise and treat Hagar with contempt and cruelty. Bitterness was born out of her perceived injustice: her husband fathering a son with her slave (Genesis 21:9–10), her own inability to have children (11:30), and the seemingly-impossible promise God made to her (18:10).
If you told me today that in two months, my garden would be bursting with zinnias, peonies, snapdragons, and gardenias, I would probably laugh. My track record, like Sarah’s in childbearing, is sparse. I have nothing on which to base my hope of a bountiful flower harvest.
What did Sarah have to fight back against her bitterness? She had a promise, a word spoken by the Author of promises. But still, she laughed.
Thankfully, the fulfillment of God’s promise to Sarah did not rest on her. God did not bless her with a son, Isaac, because of her attitude. It was not a reward based on piety, or character, or anything other than His word. And His word is always good, no matter the shape and bent of our hearts.
Bitterness has deep roots in my own heart, and daily I have to push against its influence. I think, You deserve this. You’ve earned it. And then I compare my circumstances to someone else’s, reasoning, What has she done to get that thing (job, house, vacation, experience, complexion)? I am just as worthy!
The problem with this false narrative is this: not only is it deeply baked in privilege, but it feeds into the merit-based culture we live in. Entitlement begets merit, which begets more entitlement, and so on. The culture of God’s kingdom is anchored neither in merit nor in entitlement, but rather in the goodness and faithfulness of God.
Sarah had neither merit nor entitlement. She seemed to have bitterness where faithfulness should grow. But what she did have was the promise, and so she became the mother of the promise by God’s grace alone.
On bitterness, poet and hymn writer Anne Ross Cousin said this in her poem, “In Immanuel’s Land”:
Soon shall the cup of glory
Wash down earth’s bitterest woes,
Soon shall the desert briar,
Break in to Eden’s rose
…
I stand upon His merit,
I know no other stand
Not e’en where glory dwelleth
In Immanuel’s land.
The things I long for are chaff and weeds, distractions from the best promise ever made: the eternal presence of the Lord Himself. Like Sarah, I have no merit to cling to as I wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises. But I have Him, and His Word, and His merit alone.
56 thoughts on "Sarah"
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I know this is about Sarah, but what stood out to me was that Abraham assumes is “the fear of God is not in this place.” On a recent missions trip God reminded me not to underestimate His work where I was. Regardless, how often to do we assume someone is beyond reaching or has no fear of the Lord only to find out God is working and we have missed an opportunity to help them grow or encourage or even ruin our testimony as Abraham did? I just thought it was interesting. I love how God works despite our merit or perception and He’s always working in the unseen gardens and places of our hearts.
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Why did God have Abraham marry his sister which goes against Leviticus 18:9 and 18:11?
If the first born of the first wife is so important why was David ‘s son Solomon (The son of the wife from sin and far from first wife) made king?
God stepped in to prevent Abimelech from becoming father of Sarah’s child by closing the wombs of every woman in the kingdom!
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Good questions…Abraham and Sarah’s marriage was prior to the law being given, and David/Bathsheba’s firstborn (child of sin) actually died (see 2samuel 12). Solomon was another example of God’s redeeming love and goodness
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Many people are saying what I’m thinking in my head. Like wow— I didn’t know so about Abraham and Sarah’s sinful nature. And I could write a whole list and then boom— All we see is how they sinned. No idea about the other 80% ish of their life which wasn’t documented. Don’t know their prayer life. Don’t know how they served and what happened in their private life which made me stop judging them. And on top of that, am I so perfect that I’ve never sinned? Nope.
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Love these thoughts! So true!
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I just noticed that the story of Abimelech falls between God’s promise & fulfillment of the promise. Abraham basically sent Sarah to have sex with Abimelech. He was in serious danger of usurping God’s promise; what if Abimelech impregnated Sarah?! I wonder if this is why God swiftly stepped in. He was not going to allow another Hagar situation to arise.
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I love this interpretation! I hadn’t thought about this.
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I actually don’t read the passage that way. It seems to parallel an earlier passage where Abraham lies about Sarah because he was afraid that he would be killed and she would be taken from him by Pharaoh. Abraham didn’t send her to Abimelech. Abimelech sent for Sarah. Because, he believed she was Abraham’s sister. Calling her his sister was to protect his life and hers. Not because he intentionally sent her to have sex with Abimelech.
This is more about Abraham not trusting God to protect them than anything else.
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I saw that too. Abraham might have been doing it to protect himself but the fact was at the time it was very likely she would have been taken to have sex. BUT GOD… stepped in and upheld his promise for Sarah to have Abraham’s son…his chosen line.
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Great word this mornin! Thank god the covenant is rooted in gods grace and sovereignty.
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“I can’t tell the weeds from the future blooms and the hours I’ve spent trying to cultivate a garden seem fruitless…” This is me today but this story gives me such hope that the growth will happen and that I will one day see it. Thank you for this.
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I too love this metaphor. We don’t know what God will do with all the seeds we have planted. I know he will fulfill his purposes on my life!
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Sarah hits home for me. I remember longing for a child and feeling forgotten. I remember doubting God’s goodness, a trap so many of us fall into time and time again, especially when things aren’t going the way we think they should. God provided a son for me at 37, and another at 40. I’m old and tired, and I have a hard time keeping up with them sometimes. But they are a constant reminder that God knows what He’s doing, that His plan — whether seemingly delayed or not at all what we imagined— is perfect and good and always in love. I saw much of myself in Sarah this morning. Praying for a heart that remembers His goodness, His sovereignty, His unfailing compassions. Praying for a heart that defaults to trust.
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Oh Geez, if I’m not a Sarah ! Jealousy, bitterness, privilege, and entitlement. I’d love to say thats not me but I would be lying!
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Posted to early lol. Our capitalist society pushed us to do more, be more, and obtain more, but thats not what our faith teaches us. It’s easy to get swept up in modern life achievements and let all the bad feels seep in. But our Lord is faithful. He’s always there. We don’t have to perform for his love and forgiveness. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness. Thank you Lord for never giving up on Us. Thank your forgiveness.
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