A Dysfunctional Mother - What She Said Part 14 - Week 2 Day 3

TODAY'S TREASURE

Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.

Gen. 21:1 NIV

Transcript

A Dysfunctional Mother

Marlys Roos, Guest Writer

Today’s Treasure

Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.

Gen. 21:1 NIV

To choose only a few people of interest in the Bible is an impossible task. Because we only get glimpses into their lives, we only get hints to their full character.

Sarah was sixty-five years old when introduced in Genesis 12 as Sarai, wife of seventy-five-year-old Abram, whom God called out of Ur and promised to make a great nation. She was well past child-bearing age, but she followed her husband as he obeyed the LORD. 

Genesis 12:11 and 14 comment on her physical beauty. Even at her age, she was so beautiful Abram feared Pharaoh would want her and kill him for her. (Wouldn’t you like her beauty, diet, and exercise secrets?!) Abram told her to say she was his sister. It’s not until Genesis 20—almost twenty-five years later—after (now) Abraham pulled the same ploy on the king of Gerar for the same reason that we learn Sarah (still beautiful at 90!) was his half-sister, the daughter of his father. This was a complex relationship. And there was more.

About ten years into the pilgrimage from Ur, Sarai had grown impatient with the LORD’s promise. Since she was then seventy-six years old, she thought God might need a little help with His plan of making Abram a great nation. So, she gave her husband her maid, Hagar, to conceive his child. But when Hagar became pregnant, Sarai threw her out of the camp into the desert alone. There, Hagar met the angel of the LORD and was told to return to the camp to bear her son (Genesis 16).

Although the results may not be as enduring (The descendants of Sarah and Hagar remain in conflict to this day.), who hasn’t gotten tired of waiting on God to act and decided to “help” Him out—as if that were possible? I can’t think of one time my impatience made things better.

Then, when the LORD finally shared His timing for the promised child (Gen. 18:10), Sarah, who was eavesdropping, laughed in unbelief (vv. 12-13). The LORD rebuked her with a reminder for us all: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (v. 14). Even then, still fearful of man and God, she denied she had laughed (v.15). Did she really think she could fool Him? Do we?

At long last, Isaac was born—the happily-ever-after ending, right? No, Sarah was prideful and fearful of Hagar and her son and banished them from the camp, this time for good (Gen. 21:1-14). Years of probable doting parenthood passed before we see in Genesis 22 what could not possibly be. The same God who promised Abraham a son asks him to sacrifice that son. Did Sarah know what God had asked as she watched Isaac leave with his father that day? I doubt it. As an older mother of an only child, she probably would have thrown herself down, crying in pain to stop them. When they returned once God had provided another sacrifice after testing Abraham, did he and his son tell Sarah everything? If they did, did her faith in God grow? Did she ever let Isaac out of her sight again? We don’t know. We only learn in the next chapter that Sarah died when she was 127 years old.

There’s such complexity in the little we know about Sarah. What would her full story tell? How much of ourselves can we see in her actions and (mostly) reactions we do know? Would she have been our first choice for the mother of the Hebrew race? Probably not—except maybe for her good looks.

LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT

Jesus was the only person who ever got to choose His family. He didn’t try to hide their mistakes, shame, or sorrow, but He unashamedly redeemed their stories with His promises and His life, death, and resurrection—the same way He redeems ours.

PRAYER

Thank You, Lord, for choosing Sarah—and us—to be in Your family, not for anything we have done to earn it, but only for Your great lovingkindness. Amen.