The Mother of a Nation

"Through faith also Sara..."  Hebrews 11:11

Good morning, dear friends,

Photo: cherylholt pixabay public domain

When I think about moms in the Bible, as I am taking the time to do this week, they all seem so important and larger than life.  My mom-ness seems to pale in comparison to theirs.  Many times I have to remind myself that these amazing women in the Bible were just women like me.

And, as I often do, these women did not always think about the "big picture" when they were making their decisions.

Sarah's story has always fascinated me.  Many times when I think about her, I think about her like I do with Eve:  my attention is drawn mostly toward the bad decisions she made in her life.  (I hope that people do not only remember me for my bad decisions!) I cannot ignore them, they are there: when she did not believe in the promises of God, giving Hagar to Abraham as a second wife and then later exiling her to apease her jealousy.

There is so much more to her story than these acts, if I will just look.

Here are some thoughts that the Lord showed me while looking into her mom-life this morning:

In spite of the circumstances and influences of her past, Sarah chose to follow God.  Oftentimes, I have heard the excuses for not being a great mom, as in: "I didn't have a good example growing up" or "My mom didn't take time with me, so it's okay if I..." Not having a godly Christian mom as an example is not an excuse for not being a good mom.  Sarah grew up surrounded by pagans, and her entire family was involved in the idol worship of her area.  Her background may have influenced some of the decisions that she made as a mom, but it did not excuse them.  She still had the responsability for her own choices about living for God or not.  The Bible mentions in Genesis 12:5 that Sarah left everything to follow her husband, and follow God.
She made the right choices, in spite of her family background.

Every decision, whether a major or minor decision in my eyes, should always be a matter of prayer.  How many decisions do I make in one day?  Too many to count.  How many decisions do I take to the Lord in prayer?  Probably not as many as I should.  When it comes to my family and the future of my children, there should not be any decisions, major or minor as they may seem, that I do not take to the Lord.  How much sadness and heartache Sarah could have avoided in her own life (and for those of us living now) if, during the crucial decision of giving Hagar to Abraham, she had chosen to ask God's opinion.  She knew God's promise to make a great nation of their descendants, and maybe she thought that she was "helping God." (I know how well that works!) Philippians 4:6 reminds me, "Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God."

God sees the final picture of my life here on earth.  Many times I condemn Sarah for her lack of faith toward God when He announced the promise of Isaac, but God declares her to be a woman of faith.  In Hebrews 11, I read that because of her faith in God and His promise, she received Isaac from the Lord: "Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised." (Hebrews 11:11)  Her faith in God made all the difference in her life.  She did not let "old age" be her excuse for not believing in the promise of God.  When I think about Isaac and his faithfulness to God, I see also Sarah's faith in raising her son to serve the Lord.  Sarah was a woman of faith, who in spite of some bad choices in her life, became the mother of the nation that would give birth to mankind's Redeemer.

What an encouragement to me this morning to rejoice in Sarah's faithfulness!  Even now, she is part of the "great crowd of witnesses" in heaven, encouraging me to remain faithful, as a wife, and as a mom.  May I be encouraged from her life to come before God with my decisions, small and great, and to place my trust in Him to lead me through this life.

May one day God say also of me, that I was faithful to the one "who had promised..."

Up tomorrow:  The Mom of Difficult Choices