I’ve been writing an article on living the gospel in uncertainty, studying Sarah’s story. Today I share with you a portion of my research, on the END of the story, from Eugene Peterson’s The Message.
1-4God visited Sarah exactly as he said he would; God did to Sarah what he promised: Sarah became pregnant and gave Abraham a son in his old age, and at the very time God had set. Abraham named him Isaac. When his son was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded.
5-6 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
Sarah said,
God has blessed me with laughter
and all who get the news will laugh with me!
7 She also said,
Whoever would have suggested to Abraham
that Sarah would one day nurse a baby!
Yet here I am! I’ve given the old man a son!
“The story is plainly and simply told. God promised a son to Abraham and Sarah. But the son never came. They waited and waited. Years passed, and Sarah’s childbearing years came to an end. She and Abraham gave up hoping and made other arrangements for an heir. But God reaffirmed the promise, and a year later, when Sarah was ninety and Abraham one hundred, she conceived and bore a son.
Simple as it is, that birth story sends an important message to people of faith, one that needs repeating over and over again. The message is that God invades us with new life, and that life changes who we are. God isn’t a means by which we solve problems. And he isn’t a means to avoid problems. God creates new life — he is a Creator of persons, not a Solver of problems.
We read Scripture — like this story of the birth of Isaac — not so much to find out what happened but to find out what can happen. We’re curious not about the past but about ourselves. Can he do it again? we wonder. Can he bring forth birth out of barrenness? Can he birth love out of a loveless marriage? Can he bring a viable business out of bankruptcy? Can he bring faith out of the barren womb of our unbelief? Eugene Peterson, Conversations: The Message Bible with Its Translator
What about you? Are there areas where you are wondering if “God can do it again?” Truly bringing a viable business out of bankruptcy? Or bringing new love out of a cold, distant heart? What are the Sarah situations in your life, where waiting has given way to wondering if…God is really working? Bring those to the God who doesn’t solve problems but who does truly love you more than you can ever imagine, the God who brings new life and hope out of dying dreams.
