THE LORD DEALT WITH SARAH

A sermon by George R. Pasley

Genesis 18:1-5; 21:1-7

Romans 5:1-8

Abraham and Sarah had a long friendship with God, and from a very early time that friendship included a promise from God of descendants for Abraham and Sarah.

Time went on and Abraham was starting to get old so he started to make other plans, promises being what they are. But God insisted, "No, I will keep my promise, you will have descendants," so Abraham and Sarah waited awhile longer.

In fact, they waited so long that the promise seemed impossible, so they made other arrangements, a child through a surrogate mother, But God came and said, "No, I made a promise and it was to you and Sarah," so those two bewildered and frustrated old people waited some more, though the truth is they really had no other choice.

Now I believe that they finally put that promise away, because really, what would any of us do if we were well past the age. But God did not put that promise away. In fact, God came one day and put a date to the promise: Next year.

Can any of us blame Sarah for laughing? Heavens, no. But what was impossible happened, Sarah had a son, and it was so improbable that the New York Times refused to print the announcement, though the National Inquirer ran it at the top of page one: 90 YEAR OLD WOMAN GIVES BIRTH.

Well it certainly was both improbable and impossible, but it all happened because God wanted to make a very important point: When God makes a promise God is able to keep it, and the keeping of the promise has nothing whatsoever to do with our faith or our unfaith, our strength or our weakness, nothing whatsoever to do with anything that is probable or possible.

Even so, I want to look at the events a little closer before God dealt with Sarah, because Paul wrote to the Romans and said we rejoice in our sufferings, and I think Sarah was indeed suffering.

Even in our times it is no small thing to be without a child, for that desire is hardwired into our brains even if some of us manage to reprogram our desires. But in Sarah's time it was everything to be without a child.

I can guarantee you that in Abraham's vast herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats, he did not keep a cow or a ewe or a nanny that did not produce offspring every year. Prolificacy was necessary for survival.

But more than that, Sarah's entire identity as a woman, her worth and standing, were all bound with her ability to produce a child. Yet she had none, and it HAD to wear on her and nag at her and haunt her dreams, if indeed she was able to sleep.

But something more. God kept making those promises, those promises that started to sound pretty hallow, and after awhile I think that those promises started to sound like a cruel joke, like a tease on an elementary school playground:

SARAH'S GONNA HAVE A BABY (mocking).

So when Sarah laughed, I think it was not because she didn't believe, which of course she couldn't believe- I think it was because she had already cried so many tears waiting for that promise that she could no longer cry. Because when things are so bad we can no longer cry, we laugh and it is not a pretty laugh, not at all.

Now, last week we heard the story of a woman who had suffered for 12 years, until she was healed by Jesus. But I know of a man who has suffered immensely for that same amount of time, and last month he received even worse news.

His pastor tells me that this man is a man of immense and serious faith, a man who really feels the presence of God when he worships, but this man is now extremely angry at God and his pastor can only affirm his right to be angry, and read the Psalms of lament in response.

We all know that God's answers to our prayers are sometimes no.

I'm here to tell you that this story of the miracle visited upon Sarah is not a promise that such things will happen to you.

God's gift to Sarah happened for a reason. But Paul insists that even in our unrelieved sufferings, God is bringing about a birth of something wondrous:

"Because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

Perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

So what is God up to? Let me tell you a story.

In the year 1976 there were about 10,000 Christians in Cambodia, a nation with a population of more than 6 million. But during a three-year period more than 26% of Cambodia's population died during the horrifying regime of Pol Pot. It was a time of immense suffering, perhaps greater than any other time in human history.

But for Christians it was worse: of their 10,000, 8,000 were executed. The remaining 2,000 Christians fled to refugee camps, places where indignity is heaped onto injury.

But something incredible happened in those camps. Suffering produced perseverance, and perseverance produced character, and character produced hope. Two thousand Christians went into the camps, but they emerged 10,000 in number.

Here's what happened: They persevered, and God poured love into their hearts. The two things happening made a difference, and the difference was hope. Hope is what multiplied their numbers.

Thank the Lord we have not suffered in that way, though we know that even the smallest suffering can cause fatal wounds to the soul. But since we know what suffering is, let's talk about perseverance.

Perseverance is characteristic of those of who are not swerved from their just purposes or loyalty to faith, no matter the distractions. But it is not simply a matter of being stubborn. Instead, it is something much harder all together.

Perseverance is a daily, perhaps hourly, perhaps even moment by moment making of a decision to be faithful, over and over again.

One father put it this way: "Even at day's end we muster the strength to help our children, not because it is the easy recourse but because it is the faithful one." (Erik Kolbell, "The God of Second Chances," p. 23)

So to persevere is to make choice after choice of hope over despair and fidelity over resignation, even if you just made that decision a few minutes ago.

So our suffering might indeed be so cruel and so unbearable that we indeed burst into anger at God, but to be angry is to still be in relationship. Only apathy is unfaithful. Anger is an insistence on hanging on, and if what we hang on to is justice, or life, or our own humanity, well then hang on, even if it takes some anger to help you hold on!

But make that decision over and over again, and the making of that decision will mold your character until it is unmistakably Christian, even if it sometimes forgets.

Now, I want you to look back at Sarah for a minute. We are told that God dealt with her as promised, even though she laughed and argued and considered the whole thing absurd. So I ask you, if God dealt with Sarah, who laughed, by keeping an impossible promise, how will God deal with those who persevere?

God will persevere as well.

When God called Abraham and Sarah to follow, God said, "Go to the land I will show you." So we must believe there is nowhere they went in all of their wanderings where God had not gone first.

Neither could there be anywhere in all of their sufferings where God had not been first.

Neither could there be any place in all of their anger and confusion that God had not been first.

Because you see, there is another promise, made to us by Jesus, and it is this one: "I will be with you always."

There was a prisoner of war who suffered unspeakable indignities, but he kept his faith. Years later a friend asked, "How can you believe that there is a God and a heaven," and that man replied, "Because God was with me in hell."

In whatever circumstances that cause our suffering, God perseveres.
Whatever our circumstances, God abides, and where God abides, love abounds. That's a promise WE have been given, and when God makes a promise, God keeps it.

If you don't; believe it, just ask Sarah. But don't be surprised if she laughs. In fact, before you know it, you might be laughing too.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.