Sarah
Notes
Transcript
Review
Review
Last week we looked at the life of Abram and some of the challenges he faced as well of some of his most amazing successes. From those we came to the conclusion that the promises of God are true. We committed ourselves not to look to the world for our sustenance. The world may supply an escape in the midst of a famine, but that is not the way that God wants to provide for our needs.
God has made us a promise that He will provide for us – that He will protect us and be there for us no matter what. We need to be confident of that promise.
We talked about not playing around with the World’s system nor to make excuses for returning to Egypt, knowing that God will surely curse a false income source in order to cause us to trust Him. God doesn’t need our help to make good on His promises, just relax and allow Him to show you the power of His mighty hand.
When we think of heroes, it’s impossible not to think about mothers right? I mean they do so much for us, but I’ll save all of that for Mothers’ Day, we are looking at heroes in the Bible, so it is fitting that we talk about bible mothers.
The first mother mentioned in the Bible is of course Eve. When Eve fell, God pronounced a series of curses upon her one of which had to do with her relationship to her husband.
To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”
That was part of the burden which sin brought to the woman, and it is interesting that the next major husband and wife relationship in Scripture illustrates a wife’s submission to her husband’s rule.
Sarah
Sarah
While we like to talk about Sarai or Sarah, as she was later to be known, in terms of her failure in dealing with Hagar and Ishmael, we are not really reading all the Word for what it really says about her. In fact, Sarah is commended twice by New Testament writers, once for her faith…
By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
and once for her submission to her husband.
For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.
The Apostle Peter went so far as to say she “obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.”
Can you imagine Lizzie going around calling me “Lord”? “Lord Henry, wouldest thou suffer me the pleasure of thine presence?” But in that day it was Sarah’s way of expressing her submissiveness. Strangely enough, these two principles, faith and submission, actually go together. Submission for a wife is basically faith that God is working through her husband to accomplish what is best for her. And that is the story of Sarah’s life with Abraham.
Look first at the early seeds of faith. Last week we read about how Abram, armed with the potent promise of God, pulled up stakes, and with his father Terah, his nephew Lot, and his wife Sarah, began the long trek northward around the fertile crescent to the city of Haran.
As we were so recently reminded, moving is no fun, particularly when your moving company is called two guys and a camel, and especially when you don’t even know where you are going!
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
That is probably harder on a woman than it is on a man. Sarah is not mentioned in that verse, but her faith is there, every bit as steadfast as Abraham’s. She believed that God would sustain her through the arduous journey and show her husband the place he had chosen for them.
Sarah was not a weak, spineless, overly dependent, empty-headed woman. Her parents called her Sarai, and names had meaning in the ancient biblical world. Hers meant “princess.” It may have described her great beauty, which is referred to twice in the Word. It probably described, as well, her cultured upbringing, her fine education, her stately charm, and her gracious manner. When God changed her name to Sarah, he did not remove the princely connotation, but rather added the further dignity of motherhood. She is called in that context “a mother of nations”
Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”
Sarah was an intelligent and capable woman. But when she married Abraham she made a decision. She established as her mission in life the task of helping her husband fulfill God’s purposes for him. That was not weakness. It was God’s will for her life: true biblical submission. Some wives have been systematically sabotaging God’s plan for their husbands because they have not been willing to believe God and entrust themselves to His wisdom. They simply will not trust God to work through their husbands to accomplish what is best. They feel they must help God along by trying to dominate their husbands.
At Terah’s death, Abraham, then seventy-five years of age, departed from Haran for the land which God had promised him.
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
It was another move to another unknown place, but by his side was Sarah, woman of submission and faith.
Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
The days ahead would see her faith severely tested and her submissiveness sorely tried.
Let’s explore, secondly, the continuing struggles of faith. Faith grows best under attack. The person who prays for God to take away his problems may be asking for a sickly spiritual life. Sometimes our faith falters under the stress, but if we admit the failure and accept God’s forgiveness, even those failures can contribute to our spiritual growth. On the other hand, if we never face trials, our faith will surely atrophy until it has rotted on the vine. Abraham and Sarah are both commended for their great faith in Scripture, but their failures are recorded for our instruction and encouragement, not as an indictment against them.
The first attack came shortly after they entered Canaan during the famine. As we learned last week Abraham decided to leave the place which God had promised him and flee into Egypt. Had he consulted Sarah, she might have pointed out the foolishness of his decision, but like many men he moved ahead with his plans without considering the hardships he could cause her. Now scripture doesn’t say this for a fact, but ladies, how many times can you see disaster coming and your husband just refuses to listen to your divinely given wisdom?
Too many men refuse to ask advice from their wives. They think headship gives them the prerogative of doing whatever they please without talking it over with their wives and coming to a mutually acceptable agreement. They are afraid their wives might find cracks in their logic or expose their narrow-minded selfishness. So they barge ahead with their plans and the whole family suffers for it.
When Sarai and Abram went to Egypt, Sarai was 65 years old! It was a tribute to Sarah’s beauty that at sixty-five years of age she was still so irresistible that Abraham thought the Egyptians might try to kill him for her. And the beauty was not just in Abraham’s eye but that of Pharaoh’s men as well. The question then is Why did Sarah go along with his sinful scheme to begin with?
Is not this a case where obedience to God would supersede obedience to one’s husband? I think it is. A wife has no obligation to obey her husband when obedience compromises the clearly revealed will of God.
But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.
Think that doesn’t really apply to the husband/wife relationship? Consider Abigail, you remember her right?
Then Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the Wilderness of Paran. Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb. When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep, David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: ‘Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, nor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ” So when David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited. Then Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?” So David’s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words. Then David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword.” So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies. Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he reviled them. But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields. They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him.” Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. And she said to her servants, “Go on before me; see, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
Sarah could have justly refused. But it does show how deep her faith and submission really were. And besides, Sarah believed God’s promise that Abraham would become the father of a great nation. She may have reasoned that since there were no children as yet, she was expendable, but Abraham had to live and have children even if it should be by another woman.
She may also have believed that God would intervene and deliver her before immorality became necessary. That would be quite probable in view of Pharaoh’s large harem. She may likewise have believed that God would reunite her with her husband and rescue both of them from Pharaoh’s power. And because she believed, she submitted. God could have protected them apart from Abraham’s selfish scheme, but Sarah’s faith in God and submission to her husband are still beautifully illustrated in this Old Testament narrative. The true test of a wife’s submission may come when she knows her husband is making a mistake, and she submits anyway.
It is hard to imagine a man sinking much lower than Abraham did on this occasion. Even the pagan king rebuked him for what he did.
And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.
He failed Sarah badly, but God was faithful to her. He honored her faith and delivered her. He never forsakes those who trust him. You would think the lesson of God’s sovereign care would have been so indelibly inscribed on Abraham’s soul after this experience that he would never compromise his wife again to protect himself. But he did. About twenty years later he did exactly the same thing with Abimelech, king of Gerar let’s read there.
And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.” And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid.
This shows how weak and faithless the faithful can be. There are probably some sins we think we will never commit again, but we must ever be watchful, for that is exactly where Satan will attack us. The amazing thing is that Sarah submitted again on that later occasion, and that God delivered her again, another evidence of her faith and God’s faithfulness.
The next great strain on their faith is revealed in this statement: “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children” (Gen. 16:1). God was soon to change Abram’s name to Abraham, from “exalted father” to “father of a multitude.” How could Abraham be the father of a multitude when he had no son? Now it was Sarah’s turn to devise a clever human scheme. She offered her Egyptian slave girl, Hagar, so that Abraham might have a son by her. We must admit that her suggestion revealed her belief that God would keep His word and give Abraham a son. It was obviously motivated by her love for Abraham and her desire for him to have that son. And sharing her husband with another woman would have been one of the most sacrificial things she could do. But it was not God’s way. It was another fleshly solution. And God’s ways are always best even when He is withholding what we think we need at the moment.
Too often we time-conscious earthlings resent His long delays and take matters into our own hands, usually to our great distress. If we could learn to keep trusting Him when our situation looks the bleakest, we would save ourselves much grief.
This impulsive sin had its effect on the relationship between Abraham and Sarah. Hagar got pregnant and eventually became proud and unmanageable. Sarah blamed Abraham for the whole problem when it was actually her own idea. Then she dealt harshly with Hagar, and her unkindness exposed the bitterness and resentment in her soul. Meanwhile, Abraham shirked his duty. He should have said “No” to Sarah’s sinful scheme in the first place. But now he told her to handle the problem herself, to do whatever she wanted to do, but to stop badgering him about it (Gen. 16:6).
It’s hard for a wife to be in subjection to a jellyfish, a man who avoids issues, puts off decisions, and shirks his responsibilities. There is nothing to submit to, no leadership to follow. A wife cannot help her husband fulfill God’s goals for his life when she doesn’t even know what his goals are.
Even great men and women of faith have their moments of faithlessness. And no such moment was worse for Abraham and Sarah than when they laughed at God. They both did it. God told Abraham he would bless Sarah and make her a mother of nations. Kings of peoples would come from her. Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said,
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
Abraham tried to get God to accept Ishmael as his heir, but listen to what God says,
Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
Ladies, never forget that when you are with a man of God, His call is your call, His destiny yours. You have just as much of a responsibility to get it right as he does.
Just as he will with you if you are faithful and submitted, God speaks to Abram about His wife’s destiny! The Lord appeared to Abraham in the person of a visitor to his tent, and Sarah overheard him say,
And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)
Sneaky Sarah listening at the tent door! Look at what’s next:
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
Incidentally, this was how Peter knew she called him “lord.” The submission was there, but her faith was wavering. The struggles of faith are real and we all experience them. Satan’s darts of doubt seem to be flying in our direction much of the time, and we too may be tempted to snicker skeptically at the very thought of God solving our thorny problems.
But thank God for the final triumph of faith. I believe the turning point in their struggling faith occurred during that last encounter with the Lord.
And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
That poignant challenge pierced their faltering hearts, and faith was rekindled, strong and steadfast. There was that brief setback in Gerar, but basically things were different from that moment on.
Listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote about Abraham,
And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
And remember what the writer of Hebrews said of Sarah,
By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
Their faith was rewarded, but not before it was tested. Sarah had a son and they called his name Isaac, which means “laughter.” And Sarah told us why they gave him that name:
And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.”
Her laugh of doubt had turned to a laugh of triumphant joy, and we can share her joy with her. That’s the thing about mothers and motherhood. Just the act of going through labor is a tremendous test of faith. I remember being at the Hospital when Elisha was born. We were there – Lizzie’s mother and I, and labor seemed to have stalled out, so her mom decided she’d visit the cafeteria to get herself a cup of tea. Suddenly, Lizzie looked up at me and said, “I can’t” Boy I knew it wouldn’t be long then! We had taken Bradley classes together and that is a sure sign that birth was imminent. I told her mom, “I don’t think you should go, the baby will be here any minute.” She said, “oh no, it’s going to be a while.” She almost didn’t make it in time for the birth, that’s how quickly she progressed. See, she was being tested to the absolute end of her physical ability as a woman. HER OWN efforts were futile- after all she did not know how to give birth to a child. From that point forward, I knew that her body would take over and the baby was sure to be soon in coming. So it is with our faith walk, so it was for Abraham and Sarah.
There would still be problems for Abraham and Sarah. The life of faith is never free from obstacles. Hagar and Ishmael were still around to poke fun at Isaac. And Sarah got upset about that. When she saw Ishmael mocking her little Isaac she seemed to lose control of herself. She rushed in to Abraham and angrily demanded,
Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.”
But pastor isn’t this the woman who was praised for her submissiveness and obedience? Yes, it is. Healthy submission does not prohibit the expression of opinions. That is a sick submissiveness, usually motivated by a low self-esteem. But if you want to see a real lioness just mess with a mamma’s baby!
Sarah at least said what was on her mind. And furthermore, she was right! Getting upset was not right. Offering her young maidservant up as a baby mamma was not right. But Ishmael was not to be heir with Isaac, and God wanted him to leave the household. How do we know? Because God told Abraham to listen to Sarah and to do what she said
But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.
Imagine that—even though Sarah got emotional, God wanted Abraham to heed her advice. He often wants to use wives to correct their husbands, to advise them, to mature them, to help them solve their problems and give them insight. That’s what helpers are for. Furthermore, it is the place of a mother to look after the well-being of her children and God gives mom’s a very special ability and discernment in those areas. Remember guys, you’re not just living life for your lifetime, you are building a legacy.
Husbands are you listening?
When a mom tells you there is something wrong with your kids, men you’d better be listening!
Hagar and her son went off to seek happier hunting grounds. By this time he was old enough to become an archer which meant that he could now provide for his mamma.
Meanwhile back at camp Abraham, the happy little family threesome enjoyed a time of unhindered faith and fellowship. But the most severe trial to their faith was yet to come.
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
It was to be a very unusual test.
Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Sarah’s name does not appear in this chapter and we seldom mention her when we discuss it. But do you really think that she did not know what was going on? She probably helped them prepare for the trip! Can you imagine?
“A test? From God? OK!”
“So it’s to be a sacrifice huh?”
“OK then. Wood, check. Fire, check. Knife, check”
Then she saw her son Isaac, and she saw Abraham, a look of agony etched on his weathered brow.
“Wait! Where’s the lamb? There has to be a lamb!”
“Why does Abraham have that look on his face?”
But she saw no animal for the sacrifice. Scripture says in Hebrews 11:9 that Abraham believed that God could even raise Isaac from the dead. Sarah must have believed that too.
She watched them disappear over the horizon, and though her motherly heart was breaking, she uttered not one word of protest. It was probably her greatest display of faith in God and submission to her husband’s will and purpose.
For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.
A Christian wife need not have any fear of submissiveness when her hope is in God. He will be faithful to His Word and use her obedience to accomplish what is best for her.
Sarah was one of those women about whom King Lemuel spoke, who did her husband good and not evil all the days of her life (Prov. 31:12). A woman can only be that kind of wife when she believes that nothing is too difficult for God, and when she believes that God can use even her husband’s mistakes to bring glory to Himself and blessing to their lives. And a man can only be worthy of such a submissive wife when he has learned to follow God’s directions rather than pursue his own selfish goals, He knows he has no superiority to warrant his position of leadership. It is given to him by God. So he accepts it as a sacred trust and discharges it in full submission to his Lord and unselfish consideration for his wife and what is best for her.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Husbands, don’t be a jellyfish. Have you communicated your goals to your wife? Wives godly can you help your husband fulfill God’s purposes for his life.
Husbands seek your wife’s advice in decisions that affect her.
But wives remember this. God wants you to express your opinions and desires to your husband as a supportive and submitted, not harsh and rebellious.
Benediction
Benediction
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’
Ye va ra khe kha YHWH vehyish me re kha
ya'er YHWH panav ehlekha vihu ne ka
yisa YHWH panavv ehlekha vey-a-sem lekha shalom
