SARAH: MIRACLE MOM

Today, we’re going to learn about one of the MATRIARCHS of the faith. Matriarchs? Yes. ❤️

Maybe you’ve heard of the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Well, I’m here to remind us all that they were married, and their wives were right there with them taking big steps of faith and trusting God to provide direction, protection, and conception.

The matriarchs were critical to the establishment and continuation of the Israelite bloodline, as we will see in today’s story.

Let’s get started. 

When we meet our matriarch, Sarah, her name hasn’t been changed yet. She is called “Sarai” which means "princess." She is married to a man named Abram, and they have no children (yet).

Sarai is beautiful inside and out, and she loves her husband. Together they leave everything and (almost) everyone they know and set out on an adventure with the Lord. Destination? Unknown.

No matter how you cut it, this is a huge step of faith.

Sarai, the original pioneer woman, and Abram have no idea what challenges lay ahead of them. As they encounter strangers along the way, folks who could either bless them or do them real harm, Sarai follows Abram’s lead wherever they go—even when his plans are questionable. Her loyalty is remarkable.

Abram encourages Sarai to pretend she’s his sister and not his wife—more than once—and she totally pulls it off, even when it might put her in harm’s way. Later, we learn that Sarai is Abram’s half-sister. Same father; different mother. (See Genesis 20:12)

Abram and Sarai both have a strong desire to build a family; however, like many couples today, they struggle with infertility. To them, having children is an essential part of fulfilling their religious and societal obligations, and NOT having children is both embarrassing and humiliating because it means the end of the family line.

You can hear the frustration in Abram’s voice when he talks with God in Genesis 15:2 when he says,

“O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? … You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 

In this culture, when a family has no offspring, the inheritance automatically passes to a male slave in the same household.

👎NOTE: Slavery is, was, and always will be wrong.

God hears Abram’s concern and assures him that not only will he have an heir, but “no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” Bottom line: God promises Abram that he will biologically father an heir. There is no mention of who the mother will be. Yet!

🧼 SOAPBOX MOMENT:

Notice there is no mention of Sarai in this passage; neither is there any mention of her in chapter 12 when God promised Abram he would become a “great nation.” In fact, Abram was already 75 years old when that first promise was made.

This is important because preachers frequently condemn Abram and Sarai as disobedient… but it’s not true.

When God promised that Abram would be a nation, he adopted. When God said the heir would be his own issue, he and Sarai choose to use Hagar as a surrogate. BOTH of these were culturally acceptable (and expected) back then. So, you see. Abram and Sarai were fallible, but they weren’t disobeying God when they adopted and used a surrogate.

One could argue they were taking the next logical step. Logical. Not a step of faith. A step of faith would have been to wait. But "wait" is a four-letter word.

Sidenote: We’ll work through Hagar’s story tomorrow, but for today, what I want you to see is that (1) God does not mention Sarai when first giving the promise of an heir to Abram, and (2) in these ancient times, it was perfectly acceptable for a barren woman to offer a slave as a surrogate.

🎬 Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming...

It makes sense that Abram understands God's promise of an heir to include Sarai, and the couple continues trying to conceive. For years. With no luck.

Hope gives way to despair, and Sarai’s barrenness becomes the bane of her existence. She becomes obsessed with finding a solution so Abram’s line will continue and eventually decides to offer her servant as a surrogate.

She insists Abram lay with her servant Hagar. This is an expedient way to ensure a biological heir from Abram. But when she quickly conceives, the inevitable baby mama drama that ensues proves too much for her.

We’ll cover this part in our study of Hagar tomorrow. Suffice it to say that Hagar bears Abram a son named Ishmael, and even though Abram begs God to allow Ishmael to be his heir, this was not the plan.

About twelve or so years later, God finally reveals to Abram that the heir-of-promise will come through not only him, but also his beloved wife, Sarai. It is at this time God changes their names from Abram to Abraham, and Sarai to Sarah. Both name changes foreshadowing the pregnancy to come.

“As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her and also give YOU a son by HER. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her… your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and ... I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.”

Genesis 17:5 &15 (emphasis mine)

By the time she reaches age 90, Sarah has accepted both her new name AND her infertility. She no longer entertains the idea of motherhood and resigns herself to the fact that her servant’s son would inherit everything.

But then, one day, God. Showed. Up. Literally.

(See Genesis 18)

As Sarah eavesdropped on Abraham's conversation, she heard an incredible prophecy: She would [finally!] become a mother. And what was her reaction? "OMG! No way!!! Bahahaha!!!"



Sarah laughed to herself...but when she was confronted about the laughter, she immediately denied it. Why do you think she denied it?

At age 90 not only does she get pregnant, she survives! She makes it through the pregnancy, delivery of the promised child, all the emotions post-partum, and so much more.

CONCLUSION

Sarah waited a really, really long time to become a mother: 25 years from the time they left their home Haran plus all the time leading up to their departure. During her wait, Sarah felt the full spectrum of emotions. She exhausted all her options. She made some pretty big mistakes along the way.

Thank God, He was/is faithful, and when the timing was right, she birthed a bouncing baby boy. The child of promise. Oh, and what did they name him? "Isaac" which means "laughter." 😂😂😂

It’s a good thing God’s faithfulness is based on HIS character, not ours.

You can read more about Sarah's life in Genesis 11-23 and Hebrews 11.

Additional Resources:

• All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen

• “Genesis.” Women’s Bible Commentary, 3^rd ed. Edited by Carol A. Newsom, Sharon H. Ringe, Jacqueline E. Lapsley

Photo Credits:

Photo of woman smiling by Loren Joseph on Unsplash.

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