I know I said it last week but I'm going to say it again, I am thoroughly enjoying this mini-series on great women of faith! It’s so refreshing to read about strong women who have such great stories to tell and I’m thankful we get to share them with you. This week I am going to share a story of patience and faithfulness.
Raise your hand if you are impatient. Raise your hand if you hate waiting. Okay now that I have both of my hands up… but seriously I am the most impatient person I know and I absolutely hate waiting, for anything! Especially on my millionth Amazon order this month to arrive. Patience is an attribute I really wish I had more of in my personal life, and I’m sure my husband would agree! Professionally I have tons of patience with my students, but as soon as I get home it’s like I have used up my allotted amount for the day. As I was considering what to write and share with you this week I was thinking about how impatient I have been lately. I thought about Sarah and how she was so incredibly patient through her faith.
If you aren’t sure who Sarah was, I’ll give you a quick refresher. Sarah, also spelled Sarai, in the Old Testament, was the wife of Abraham and mother of their only son, Isaac. Sarah was childless until she was 90 years old. God promised Abraham that she would be “a mother of nations” (Genesis 17:16) and that she would conceive and bear a son. Now you might laugh when you think of a 90 year old just starting to have children, and Sarah also laughed, but we aren’t really sure exactly how long people lived during the biblical age. We do know that 90 was still definitely old as she lived to be roughly 127. Sarah desperately wanted children and historically that was a big part of the role of wives. If a wife didn’t have a child in a reasonable amount of time, social customs encouraged women to give their maid to be a kind of surrogate to have children to continue the family line. You’ll actually be able to see an example of this in the ancient Code of Hammurabi. I think about how hard it must have been for Sarah to be patient and wait 90 years to be able to have children. Later, to test Abraham’s obedience, God commanded Abraham to sacrifice the boy. Abraham made all the preparations for the ritual sacrifice, but God spared Isaac at the last moment. Can you imagine waiting so long for something and then to have it ripped away? Not only was Sarah patient but she was faithful to God, willing to go through giving up her son that she waited 90 years to have. I think about how trivial the things I’m impatient about are- getting stuck in traffic, my husband refusing to put his socks in the bin, et cetera. In the grand scheme of things, those things are so meaningless and petty to worry about.
I think about Sarah and how her story teaches us so many lessons. We learn that following God isn’t always easy but it’s always worth it, even if sometimes it’s hard for us. We learn that patience is a virtue that women of faith should have. And above all we learn that God always delivers on his promises. Sarah is such a great example of a woman of faith and although she isn’t perfect she trusts God and his promises. She was patient even when it was hard. And she was willing to sacrifice everything to be faithful to the Lord. We should all try to be a little more like Sarah.
-Samantha
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