Sat, Nov 4th - 5:57PM
Abraham's Beautiful and Feisty Sarah
Sarah was a woman of astonishing beauty even well into her sixties. I read passages in which Abraham was actually in fear of his life just traveling with her. She must have been exceptionally stunning to evoke this fear in him; and while God blessed she and Abraham with great wealth, the thing she wanted most eluded her.
Beauy, wealth and the love of a good man did not bring her fulfillment. For she longed to feel the life of a child growing within her. She longed to give her beloved husband the heir he had been promised by God. How much it must have hurt Sarah to realize that, after keeping faith and maintaining hope all those barren years, her aged body had passed the time of childbearing. She had loved Abraham most of her life, but at age 75 Sarah assumed that while God had promised Abraham that he would father a great nation, she would not be the mother of those people. How it must have pained her to give her young slave to Abraham as she tried to help God make good on His promise.
Sarah had given up the life she had known for an uncertain life of wandering, and finally even gave the man she loved into the arms of another woman. It must have been a shocking blow when that slave became pregnant almost immediately ~ but grief and anger worsened when that slave girl gave Sarah a bad attitude. This perhaps explains Sarah's harshness toward (Hagar). Sarah was selfless but has often been critized for giving Hagar to her husand as a surrogate. Although I don't know how long Sarah was married to Abraham, I do know that it was common in those days to marry by age thirteen or fourteen. Abraham was 86 when he became a father (by Hagar) and Sarah was ten years younger. If they married at age 15, Sarah had waited some 60 years before giving her slave to Abraham. Why after waiting for so long, did she act when she did? I read that kings wanted Sarah in their harems when she was 65....this tells me that Sarah retained her "feminine cycle" late in life. And as long as Sarah felt able to become pregnant she waited in faith and only after she ceased menstruation did she act on the (culturally approved) alternative.
Sarah waited faithfully, trusting far longer than I could imagine.
Sarah's death is a poignant moment in the biblical record (Gen. 23). The love this couple shared for each other during their lifelong marriage is legendary. Abraham mourned his loss, purchased a cave for his beloved's resting place and buried her. Forty-eight years later, his sons laid Abraham to rest in the same cave.
From Sarah, I learned that God does not set His timetable according to our schedule. In His time His desires will come to pass. He does not need us to jump in and make things possible for Him. Sometimes this may mean we have to wait for a lifetime. From Sarah, I learned that God does not make a promise He does not keepl
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Name: Terri Medina
