Read Genesis 18:1-15
When the angelic visitors appeared to Abraham, they seemed to walk out of thin air, suddenly “near” (v.2). Abraham’s child-like faith perceives the divine status of his impromptu visitors. He hastens (v.6-8) to show them the appropriate measure of hospitality along the caravaning outpost of the southern desert. After the pleasantries, the Lord shows intimate familiarity with Abraham’s family situation, and he gets down to the business of why he has come: he has a message for Sarah. The angel, understanding the propriety of desert women, makes sure Sarah is in the tent within earshot of his voice. Then he delivers the telegram (v.9).
When Sarah hears the news of an impending pregnancy, she is not excited or hopeful. She does not laugh joyfully like her husband Abraham (17:17), who has a knack for trusting God. She is not relieved that her long wait is over. She laughs sardonically and wearily. She is tired and frustrated. Her heart is covered in callouses. Can you blame her?
Decades ago, God promised a baby and awakened that hope and then starved it with neglect. Abraham and Sarah were wracked with enduring and unfulfilled baby hunger. Year after year, the baby never came. But what does come in moments like these, if we’re not careful, is offense towards God. The opportunity is ripe to feel disenchanted, lied to, or neglected. God doesn’t fit into our Google calendars, expectations, and behavior charts. Sarah vents, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight?” (v.12)
Sarah doesn’t fully comprehend whose child this is and whose story she is in. This is the Lord’s promised seed and the Lord’s “appointed time,” not hers. Our urgencies, dilemmas, blueprints, and conventions don’t always move heaven to respond to our emergencies. We find ourselves red-faced that it is not about us at all. It is heaven’s kingdom we are building, not our own. So often, we are just the tent in which God’s babies are birthed.
The angel of the Lord confronts Sarah’s unbelief (v.13) but then renews his promise a second time (v.14). This time, the Lord, in his gracious way, gives her the measure of faith she needs to believe. Hebrews 11:11 says, “By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful.”
Don’t forget, dear reader, that we are birthing God’s babies and not ours. Don’t grow offended at God when he does things in his way and his timing. We are just the tent he moves through. If your heart is covered in callouses, let the ministry of his promise soften your faith again. God can still bring honey from the rock, make bitter waters sweet, and turn our derisive laughter into songs of joy.
Tags: faith, angels, god's will, miracle, baby, laughter, sarcasm, timing, infertility, disenchantment
