“The Lord graciously remembered and visited Sarah as He said, and the Lord did for her as He had promised.”—Genesis 21:1, Amplified
You don’t have to be an old person to be able to relate to the outrageously wild promise from God's messengers that Sarah, in her 90s, was going to get pregnant and give birth to a son who would help fulfill a prophecy for all of mankind (Genesis 18:10-12). It’s not just a mother thing, either; being a guy doesn’t disqualify you from being able to relate to Sarah, too, on this one level:
We are all prone to look first at everything through a natural, common sense lens rather than the lens of Heaven where all things are possible. It’s often manifested in the Sarah mindset of, “C'mon, I’m too old (or, young, or inexperienced, or uneducated, or whatever limitation you choose) for ______, or for God to work through me.”
Maybe you can even relate to what Sarah did when she looked at what she thought was the reality of the thing: Laugh in incredulity, either on the inside or in an unconfined guffaw. It is so good to know that God, in His great graciousness, didn’t condemn Sarah for her laughter that was based on the evidence in front of her, but instead invited her (and us) to think beyond the natural with a challenge:
“Why do you doubt My promises for what you can’t see? I am not like you or anyone else. I am with you but I am above all this that seems impossible. Is there anything too hard for Me?”
And, as the story goes, it wasn’t. We never read that Sarah suddenly “got it” and all was well. Only that she and wrinkly Abraham obeyed, and conceived Isaac—the son of laughter, through whom God said in affirming His promise “…through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.”
A promise so great, it leads to this “A record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob…..”
So, this is an amazing story of God’s faithfulness through the ages and about being true to His promises. And it’s a great story of encouragement to persevere in prayer and believe in the face of everything that screams to the contrary. Kind of like, if you’re from around here, last Sunday and 34-28 OT.
But even better than that. Sarah's story speaks to a believing that contends to see things that really matter eternally from God’s unlimited, no-fine-print gotcha viewpoint rather than from our own limited view of things, where “I’m too ____” is never a deal-breaker in the kingdom of Heaven on earth, and how all of that can make all the difference in our daily attitude as well as how we approach just about everything in this world, this Walk, and this life with others.
It all comes down to one word...
"Everyone has a perspective. It is not a matter of having it or not. The question is, who is dictating our perspective, what determines our perspective, and what values are shaping our perspective...This morning, you woke up and you began to view your day and your life with a specific perspective. That perspective will determine the tint with which you view of all of life. It will either release life or death, joy or depression, risk or fear. I believe it is one of the greatest battles for Christians in our day....Revival and reformation will not be possible without a perspective of a victorious Kingdom and an earth that is now filled and will continue to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God! [Habakkuk 2:14] Only with this mindset can we live with hope, and only with hope can we lead the Bride into her greatest hour, her hour of fullness."
(Sean Feucht and Andy Byrne,”Fire and Fragrance")
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