Sarah Laughed...............

Hi Everyone,

Genesis 17:1-5 "When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. Genesis 17Ñ15-17 "God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” Genesis 18:1-2 "The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground." Genesis 18:9-15 "Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said. Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

I have been thinking about something these last two weeks---I am not trying to compare myself to Abraham or Sarah by any means--I have just been thinking about a concept and am using these verses to demonstrate something.

Sometimes it is so easy for us to read those passages and think, "Why Sarah simply didnt just believe God and trust Him???-actually we see that Abraham laughed at first too." It can get easy to get proud and think, "I would not have done that."

But it all hit home to me a few weeks ago when I was talking with a friend---and she told me what she was praying that God would bless me with in my life--it was one of my deepest desires. On one hand her words encouraged me and on the other hand--I hate to admit this--but I was laughing on the inside because I was looking at the circumstances rather than trusting that God could bring that desire to pass. Part of me wanted to say to my friend, "You really do not have to pray about that for me......."

I too have laughed--in doubt and lack of trust in our Lord at times.

And in my case, God has NOT promised to me nor is He required in some way to grant that desire. He does not have to "give me what I want." So many people think of God as some type of wish-granter---and while He does give us so many good gifts, He is not ours to try to manipulate. It all gets put into perspective when we realize we did not deserve anything from Him.

The real perspective and demonstration of trust comes when I become more willing to say, "Lord, I trust that You will do what is best no matter if that desire is fulfilled or not. You will bring to pass what is the VERY BEST and NOTHING LESS for me according to Your ways and plans." It is one thing to SAY that intellectually and another thing to MEAN IT from a heart of trust.

But I guess another part of all of this is how often we, like Sarah, can look at our circumstances and believe things as impossible--when with God in accordance with HIS will and plan, not ours---nothing is impossible or too hard for Him.

Are we looking at our circumstances or looking at Jesus Christ? Are we believing Him or doubting? Are we confident that what He is allowing in our lives is for a greater purpose--and that He alwaus does what is best--even when that gets hard---no matter how it looks or turns out? Will we love Him no matter what?