Monday, February 26, 2018
The Lord kept
his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a
son for Abraham in his old age. This
happened at just the time God had said it would. And Abraham named their son Isaac. Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham
circumcised him as God had commanded. Abraham
was 100 years old when Isaac was born. And
Sarah declared, “God has brought me laughter.
All who hear about this will laugh with me. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah
would nurse a baby? Yet I have given
Abraham a son in his old age!” Genesis 21:1-7(NLT)
We live less than
a mile from a huge retirement center. I
have never seen a birth announcement with that address, nor have I heard the
crying of a baby, or seen tricycles or inflatable bouncy things ready for a
toddler birthday party in the common building.
Modern science may be incredibly advanced, but in the normal course of
events, you never find pre-natal vitamins in an octogenarian’s medicine
cabinet!
But that is
exactly what transpired here. Sarah, who
had laughed at the very idea of a woman about to turn 90 giving birth, was now filled
with joy and laughter, as any new first-time mother. And 100 year-old Abraham, Sarah’s husband, bouncing
his new son on his knee was the talk of the village!
In yesterday’s
account of Abraham and Sarah stepping out of God’s will with the whole Hagar
thing…thinking that somehow putting aside God’s Plan A would make
the final outcome better…when God doesn’t have a Plan B…well, that
didn’t turn out so well. The fallout of
Sarah trying to impose her will against God’s plan was that Hagar, the servant
girl, despised her mistress, Sarah and treated her with contempt. Sarah over-reacted, blaming Abraham, who
washed his hands of the whole thing, and Hagar got chased from the camp, wound-up
with the scorpions and wild beasts in the desert, just waiting for death to
take her and her son Ishmael. In the end
– to this day – there has been no end of hatred between the descendants of
Hagar and Sarah. Human Plan
B’s never fare well where God’s will is concerned.
By comparison,
today’s account is the evidence of God’s Plan A nursing in Sarah’s embrace. The laughter of the blessed mother rings
through the camp, and Abraham’s faith is stronger than ever.
It is amazing what
God can do in spite of us trying to help Him along!
For You Today
If you tend to put
your trust in technology, science, economics and the strong back you were born
with, let me suggest that you put those on hold for a while and lay all of your
weight on the God who gave all that stuff, and expects us to use it, but not depend
on it! Our trust – our faith
belongs to God.
You chew on
that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.
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