If you've waded this far through this series of posts about Sarah, you'll already know that I've had a change of opinion regarding this woman of faith. If you've not read the previous posts, then you have my permission to back out of this one. Should you choose to proceed, here are the links to the other posts:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
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I concluded the third one by asking, "what's the big deal and why should it matter to me so much?"
Honestly, I don't know why this struck a chord with me. Maybe I was just looking for a way to fill up several hours of my time during the Christmas rush. Possibly.
I really think there's something here though, and I can't exactly put my finger on the full meaning of it. I just know I was "wow-ed", for lack of a better term, by the thought that all of the preconceptions we have been taught about Sarah may not be accurate.
Oh, yes, the facts are still the same...but the nuances as to why she gave Hagar to Abram and why she laughed might have been lost all these many thousands of years later. Are we willing to admit that we really don't understand much about ancient Eastern cultures of that time? Can we recognize that they may not have even pitched their tents on the same acre of land...thus, not even sharing the same tent (common of that time)...and that Sarah's possible isolation would have grown even more as Ishmael grew up strong and sure, ready to inherit Sarah's world should Abraham pass away?
Yep...all of that is not only possible...but very likely. Here's the thing: Although the culture, interactions and customs are vastly different...the human condition is not. And the truly blessed fact is that God has not changed.
The God that did not remove the blessing because of Ishmael, nor when either Abraham or Sarah laughed...is the same God that keeps drawing us to Him inch by beautiful inch until we are not only willing...but capable of receiving the blessings He has for us. God Incarnate, Jesus, as we were told to call Him, came to do precisely that...draw people out of the empty, barren land of their souls...breath by breath...into the fertile life of knowing and accepting His love.
Do we mess up? Yes
Do we take matters into our own hands? Absolutely
Do the consequences sting for years to come? You betcha
But sometimes, we only have enough Light to move forward to the place where we "think" He's leading us. I'd sure hate to think that centuries or millennia later someone would look at my life and say, "Why in the heck did she do that when all she had to do was wait on God?" That's not exactly fair for the one with all the information to judge.
No. I've begun to see Sarah for the woman she was, not the woman I've been taught she should have been. She had limited knowledge, a limited uterus and a husband who on more than one occasion asked her to lie to protect his own skin. How can I piously assert that I would have somehow been able to wait better than she? I can't.
And this gives me hope. Hope that an extremely flawed, limited-brained, plowing-ahead-without-all-of-the-facts-up-front person such as myself still has a glimmer of hope to one day hear my Savior say that He found me faithful. Since He's the only One in possession of all the facts, isn't He the only One I should be attempting to impress anyway?
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
**************************************************************
I concluded the third one by asking, "what's the big deal and why should it matter to me so much?"
Honestly, I don't know why this struck a chord with me. Maybe I was just looking for a way to fill up several hours of my time during the Christmas rush. Possibly.
I really think there's something here though, and I can't exactly put my finger on the full meaning of it. I just know I was "wow-ed", for lack of a better term, by the thought that all of the preconceptions we have been taught about Sarah may not be accurate.
Oh, yes, the facts are still the same...but the nuances as to why she gave Hagar to Abram and why she laughed might have been lost all these many thousands of years later. Are we willing to admit that we really don't understand much about ancient Eastern cultures of that time? Can we recognize that they may not have even pitched their tents on the same acre of land...thus, not even sharing the same tent (common of that time)...and that Sarah's possible isolation would have grown even more as Ishmael grew up strong and sure, ready to inherit Sarah's world should Abraham pass away?
Yep...all of that is not only possible...but very likely. Here's the thing: Although the culture, interactions and customs are vastly different...the human condition is not. And the truly blessed fact is that God has not changed.
The God that did not remove the blessing because of Ishmael, nor when either Abraham or Sarah laughed...is the same God that keeps drawing us to Him inch by beautiful inch until we are not only willing...but capable of receiving the blessings He has for us. God Incarnate, Jesus, as we were told to call Him, came to do precisely that...draw people out of the empty, barren land of their souls...breath by breath...into the fertile life of knowing and accepting His love.
Do we mess up? Yes
Do we take matters into our own hands? Absolutely
Do the consequences sting for years to come? You betcha
But sometimes, we only have enough Light to move forward to the place where we "think" He's leading us. I'd sure hate to think that centuries or millennia later someone would look at my life and say, "Why in the heck did she do that when all she had to do was wait on God?" That's not exactly fair for the one with all the information to judge.
No. I've begun to see Sarah for the woman she was, not the woman I've been taught she should have been. She had limited knowledge, a limited uterus and a husband who on more than one occasion asked her to lie to protect his own skin. How can I piously assert that I would have somehow been able to wait better than she? I can't.
And this gives me hope. Hope that an extremely flawed, limited-brained, plowing-ahead-without-all-of-the-facts-up-front person such as myself still has a glimmer of hope to one day hear my Savior say that He found me faithful. Since He's the only One in possession of all the facts, isn't He the only One I should be attempting to impress anyway?
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