The Faith of Sarah

 “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

-Hebrews 11:11-12

It’s amazing to me how many stories in the Bible start with infertility as a way to showcase God’s power. Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth, Samson’s mom; even Mary, the mother of Jesus, finds herself with child in a supernatural way. As the first one to be mentioned in Scripture with this particular struggle, it seems fitting that Sarah should make her way into the Hall of Faith, yet it is also surprising. When we first read the story of God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 15-16, it’s not Sarah whose faith we notice. In fact, Sarah seems to only make decisions that are faithless; she laughs when she hears God tell Abraham that they will conceive, then she takes matters into her own hands and forces her servant, Hagar, on her husband. Yet Hebrews 11 gives an interesting insight into Sarah’s heart; clearly, the writer of Hebrews, through divine inspiration, knew something that we don’t at first glance- Sarah must have, at some point, found her faith in God.

Verse 11 shows us that “she considered Him faithful who had promised.” I love that Sarah’s faith didn’t rest in any outer signs from God (like when Gideon tests God in Judges); she simply believed because God promised. This is a challenge to my heart as I consider if God’s promises are enough for me to believe in Him; or am I rather like Sarah in the beginning of her story, trying to take matters into my own hands? I think this is our human nature (perhaps especially for us as women!); we see the big picture of where God’s taking us, but we are impatient to get there. Surely God won’t mind if we do something to nudge along His plan? We forget so easily that the lessons He wants us to learn are in the waiting. And my experience has been, more often than not, that I am only finally ready to submit to His timing and His ways once I’ve tried (and failed) to fix things myself, just like Sarah. I love this quote from Elisabeth Elliot: “Suffering is never for nothing. And I’ve come to see that it’s through the deepest suffering that God has taught me the deepest lessons. And if we’ll trust Him for it, we can come through to the unshakable assurance that He’s in charge. He has a loving purpose.” I think the ending of that quote hits the nail on the head: we can trust Him because He has a purpose.

Notice also that Sarah’s faith didn’t originate with herself; she learned it from the One who was faithful to keep His promises. We don’t have to somehow drum up our own faithfulness; it’s ready and waiting because the One we trust is already, and always, faithful. And look at the results of Sarah’s faith: she received power to conceive! Again, notice how our faith points back to God, not anything in our own abilities– Sarah could only conceive when she received God’s power.

Can we hit pause for a second and recognize that this is true NO MATTER the circumstances surrounding childbearing? This article isn't about family planning but rather faith in general, but I think it bears noticing. We forget sometimes, in a culture that relies on birth control, that we really aren’t in control of anything when it comes to having children. This includes everything from the couple who uses prevention, the ones who use IVF treatments, and the ones who try to manipulate their health in order to get pregnant. This isn’t to say that any of those things are sinful; but if your heart behind them is to control when and how you have kids, then we may need to stop and surrender our desires for our families to the Lord. If your happiness rests on whether or not you have children, then motherhood has probably become an idol in your heart (that's not to discount the very real pain that comes from not being able to conceive; yet we can feel that pain and use it to draw ourselves closer to the Lord rather than attempting to control an outcome). Sarah created a lot of heartache in others (and, honestly, in herself) through her attempts to control her situation; let’s learn from her mistake and instead act in faith as we trust the Lord with our families, however big or small they may be. 

Finally, we see the most beautiful results of the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah: the creation of a vast people group from whom would come the Savior of the entire world. Again, we are reminded of Abraham and Sarah’s inability to do anything on their own: “and him as good as dead” (v. 12). Isn’t it beautiful that Sarah was allowed to be a part of God’s story of salvation, despite her mistakes? Sarah learned the lesson we all must learn-

to put our faith in the Lord rather than ourselves, and because of her faith God allowed her to not only have a family beyond her wildest dreams, but to also provide the lineage of Jesus Christ. Where are you struggling today to trust God’s plan for you? Let’s surrender to His timing and let go of our attempts to control, because the reality is we don’t have any control anyway.