The story of Genesis is a lot of set-up. It starts with the creation story and then goes on into birth of God's chosen people, the Israelites. The origin of the Israelites begins with Abraham and Sarah. Abraham is given a name-change and a promise. Sarah is as well. The difference is their reactions.
We can see from reading our Bibles, or spending time in conversation with other believers, that God's time-line looks very different than our own. This can create panic in our human hearts because we have a subconscious understanding that our time on earth is finite. While God is infinite. You can see where the disparity lies. Sarah and Abraham had doubts. Sarah in particular was bitter in her situation. It wasn't easy being a barren woman married to a man promised to be the start of a nation. You and I can put ourselves in Sarah's shoes. Sarah knew what God had said, but it was having a hard time taking root in her spirit.
Chapter eighteen of Genesis shows us that Abraham and Sarah had three visitors come to their homestead. These were angels sent to confirm to Abraham and Sarah that the fulfilment of the promise was here. As they are talking, Sarah is in the tent preparing some refreshments. Sarah bitterly laughs at the pronouncement from the angels. The exchange goes like this:
"So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh." But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.” (Genesis 18:12-15, NIV)
Sarah's first instinct is to lie about her laughter. She wants to cover up the fact that she is untrusting of God's promise for her. We do the same thing. When life gets to the point that the promises of God are harder to believe than the doubts that He is faithful, we cover up those doubts. When we have been in a season of waiting that has felt longer than our endurance can take, we cover up our despair and longing for fulfillment. At some point in church tradition we stopped being honest about our feelings with God and other believers.
My friends, this is not healthy discipleship. Throughout Scripture we are shown a great variety of emotions and feelings. All of the pillars of our Christian faith struggled with their emotions. Sarah doubted, Gideon was afraid of his families reaction, David prayed for vengeance on his enemies, Jeremiah wept, Mary felt unworthy, Jesus begged for the Cross to be taken from Him, Paul longed for a release from the shackles of prison, and we continue to experience all of those feelings still. We all have feelings, it is not a sin to experience them. We just need to know where to pour them out so they do not fester in our souls. Psalm chapter six shows us where to start:
"I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer." (Psalm 6:6-9, NIV)
No comments:
Post a Comment