“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.” - Genesis 18:13-14
God waited so long that it required a violation of the natural law to fulfill his promises to Abraham and Sarah. My gracious. What kind of faith does God expect from us—unreasonable faith?
Sometimes, we think we hear God’s voice. We are praying diligently for healing. We step out and start a business. We invest in a relationship only to have this collapse underneath our feet. Such circumstances leave us with the kind of questions that can destroy us. Did God withdraw his promise? Is he punishing me for something I did wrong? Is he going to be there when I need him most?
Sarah’s empty womb left more than an empty promise; it left a bitter taste in her mouth. Her yearning heart to be a mother was resurrected and stabbed through a second time by God’s unnecessary intrusion. God had delayed so long that Abraham and Sarah turned to a surrogate. Ishmael was the stand-in for God’s unfulfilled promises. By societal conventions, Ishmael could have been considered acceptable, as Abraham’s line, though that didn’t seem to be exactly what God had promised.
Thirteen years later, God showed up ready to clarify that Ishmael wasn’t his plan. Thank God for that. You’re a little late—like, thirteen years. Yes, Ishmael too will be blessed, God says—because God may be late, but he’s not punitive. There is no indication that God was angry with Abraham and Sarah for having Ishmael. And Ishmael was given a dignified blessing from God as a son of Abraham should. Even so, Ishmael was not God’s intended plan. What, then, was God trying to prove?
Sometimes, God’s promises are just so far beyond us. His voice can fly in like an exotic bird whose taxonomy is difficult to understand. His fulfillment can grow up, like a species, completely different than any we expected around here. We are left asking, “Is this the fulfillment you had in mind?”
God cornered Abraham and Sarah into an impossible situation to give them an impossible child. The Lord wanted to clearly communicate the supernatural significance of this family—an entire lineage that would nourish the earth, not based on human wisdom and strength but out of the fullness of God’s blessings (Genesis 12:3-5). The promise to Sarah’s empty womb was cosmic in scale, just like the promise to the virgin Mary fifteen centuries later. Her impossible baby would also bless the whole earth. He would nourish it with his body and his blood.
Abraham and Sarah had heroic faith, but it wasn’t because of their faith that God finally acted. Sometimes, God fulfills his promises not because of us but despite us. It is not always our faith that moves heaven or our strengths that God finds useful. Though our faith is weak and we lose hope under an avalanche of disappointment, God still appears at his appointed time. We cling to the One we are to have faith in, not in our ability to have faith. That’s the kind of faithful God he is.
Tags: faith, hope, disappointment, faithful, promises, blessing, ishmael, failed, empty womb, unbelievable, god's plan, isaac, abraham, punishment, sarah
