Read Sarah’s story in Genesis 12:1–15;
16:1–6; 17:1–8, 15–17; 18:1–15; 21:1–7.
Sarai, later called Sarah, was a princess. Her name even meant “princess.” But Sarai’s castle was a tent pitched here and there from Mesopotamia to Haran to the land of Canaan.
Sarai was married to Abram, a man ten years older than her. The Lord had told Abram to leave his people and his country of Mesopotamia and take off for a land God would later show him. So at sixty-five years old, Sarai packed up and headed out on an adventure with her husband and his nephew Lot.
Sarai knew the Lord had promised Abram he’d be the father of a great nation and many generations would come from him. She also knew in order for God to make a great nation from their children, she’d have to have babies who would grow up and have babies. But their cradle was empty. And in that day if a woman couldn’t have children, people thought God had cursed her. That she’d done something to make God mad at her.
Ten years had passed since God’s promise to give Sarai and Abram children. She was seventy-five years old. She wasn’t getting any younger, and she still hadn’t had a baby. So she decided that if her maid had a baby with Abram, it would fulfill God’s promise.
Sarai went to Abram and said, “The Lord won’t give me children. Go sleep with my maidservant so I can build a family through her.” Then Sarai gave her Egyptian maidservant, Hagar, to Abram. Sarai’s plan turned out to be a painful one. When Hagar became pregnant, she began to hate Sarai.
Sarai blamed Abram. “You’re responsible for my suffering,” she told him. “Now that Hagar knows she’s pregnant, she hates me.”
“She’s your servant,” Abram said. “You should do whatever you think is best.”
Hagar had given Abram something Sarai hadn’t been able to give him: a child. And having Hagar around reminded Sarai she didn’t have a child of her own. She became jealous of Hagar and made her life miserable, so Hagar ran away.
But God still had his own plan. The Lord came to Abram again. While Abram was facedown on the ground before him, God promised Abram again that he’d be the father of many nations. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah.
“I’ll bless Sarah and give you a son by her,” God said, “She’ll be the mother of nations. Kings will come from her.”
Sarah laughed at the thought that she, a ninety-year-old woman, could be having a baby. But nothing gets in the way of God’s plan. When Sarah gave birth to a son, they named him Isaac. The name Isaac means “laughter.” Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. Who would’ve thought I’d nurse a child at my age?”
God knew it would happen. But before Princess Sarah learned to wait for God, she was a royal pain. Sarah’s impatience to have a baby, her moments of doubting God’s promises, and her poor choices in trying to make it happen with Hagar caused Sarah and others a lot of trouble.
Sarah learned that God uses a different clock than we do. God keeps his promises, but he does it in his perfect time. And God’s perfect time for something to happen isn’t usually soon enough for us.
Sarah’s son, Isaac, did become the father of the nation of Israel. It just didn’t happen as soon as she wanted it to.
Have you ever prayed and prayed and waited and waited for something? Have you ever lost your patience with God? Maybe you prayed for a new brother or sister. Or you asked God to help you pass a math test you studied for. Maybe you prayed for your parents to get back together. Sometimes God says no. Sometimes he says yes. Other times he’ll tell you to wait. Waiting is hard. But God always knows what’s best.
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
— Isaiah 55:8–9
I will trust God’s higher thoughts and ways and wait for his perfect plan for me.
Lord, please help me remember that your way is best. Help me wait for you with patience and peace. Amen.
For many people in Bible times, camping wasn’t just something they did on weekends or on vacations. It was their way of life. Today some of the Bedouin people still live in similar tents in the deserts of the Middle East.
Sarah became known and respected as the mother of Israel, not because of what she did, but because of God’s divine plan, and because he kept his promise to Abraham.