Open My Eyes Lord- Sarah

So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” Gen 16:2

God had made the covenant, and God would fulfill it. All Abraham and Sarah had to do was wait by faith (Heb. 6:12). Alas, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!

From the time she became Abraham’s wife, Sarah desired one thing above all others, she want to have children. But she was barren throughout her normal child bearing years. In fact, that is practically the first thing Scripture mentions about her. After recording that Abraham took her as a wife in Genesis 11:29, verse 30 says, “But Sarah was barren; she had no child.”

 She was obviously tortured by her childlessness. Every recorded episode of ill temper or strife in her household was related to her frustrations about her own barrenness. It ate at her. She spent years in the grip expectation and depression because of it. She desperately wanted a child, but she finally concluded that God Himself was restraining her from having children (Gen 16:2)

Now Sarah decides to take matters into her own hands. She gave Hagar to Abraham as a substitute wife, a common practice of that time. A married woman who could not have children was shamed by her peers and was often required to give a female servant to her husband in order to produce heirs.

So why was this a crisis point for Sarah and Abraham? If this was perfectly acceptable in their culture- what was the problem?

God had promised that He would give them descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. What may be acceptable in the eyes of the world has no place in the life of God’s children.

Charles Spurgeon said, “Should we run so hastily to friends and relations for assistance, if we remembered that the Lord is magnified by our implicit reliance upon his solitary arm-My soul, wait thou only upon God

Heb 11:1 say’s “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

The Living Bible say’s “ it is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us even though we cannot see it up ahead.”

So badly did Sarah want her husband to have an heir that she concocted a plan. But this do it yourself plan would spell out disaster.

This decision proved a lack of faith in God to fulfill His promise that Abraham and Sarah would have a child. In the previous chapter, Abraham listened to God and exercised faith, but here he listened to his wife and revealed his unbelief.

Sarah ceased to walk in the Spirit and began to walk in the flesh.

Women of God, how many times have we done the same thing? We survey our circumstances and conclude that somehow God is not involved.

If you’re single perhaps you’ve decided to find a godly man with the world’s methods. You’ve told yourself it’s time to take matters into your own hands instead of continuing to wait on God. Are you a woman who like Sarah is aching to have a child? Have you concluded that God has forgotten you? What about us mom’s who have a wayward child? We’ve prayed and pleaded and cried before God’s throne. As the years go by we wonder if the Lord will rescue our prodigal.

The challenges of faith in God are many. They always have been! The chronic illness that depletes and debilitates our strength. The unsaved spouse and the loneliness that comes with it. There has never been a time when walking in this world as a child of God has not proven to be a test to our natural eyes. The things we see day in and day out verses the invisible God whom we have put our trust in.

This is however exactly where faith is birthed and developed. It’s so hard at times and I certainly have failed in many instances to not let the visible realm get the best of me. But God never gives up, never gives in and never runs out on us ladies. He takes us right back to His word and opens our eyes again to the true reality of our faith. The eternal realm where God is at work in every second, minute, moment, month, and year.

What blessed assurance that today is governed by His Sovereign love and authority!