Genesis 18:1-15 / Psalm 11 "Limiting God"

READ: Genesis 18:1-15 / Psalm 11

Verse chosen for meditation: Genesis 18:13-15 

¹³ The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵ But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

 

REFLECT

The chapter starts with three heavenly visitors, who were revealed to be the Lord and probably two angels in human form. The Lord repeats his promise to Abraham, knowing full well that Sarah was listening in on the conversation. Sarah’s immediate response was to laugh in disbelief. Can one blame her? Sarah was old, about 90 years old and the “way of women had ceased to be” with her (v11), meaning she had gone through menopause. It was simply physically impossible to bear a child.

 

This response was similar to Abraham when he first heard this promise in chapter 17. However, God did not condemn her for her disbelief. In fact, in his own divine humour, He had already named her son Isaac, which means “laughter”, as if to serve as a subtle, cheeky rebuke to the doubtful responses of the couple.

 

RELATE

We were told that Sarah was afraid (v15), perhaps because she was caught eavesdropping and that her response and thoughts were laid bare. I’ve experienced a similar fear and shame when my sins are laid bare before God. Our God is all-knowing. No action or thought could be hidden from Him. We know this, but how different would we have lived if we are always conscious of this, seeking to please Him, rather than act as if He doesn’t know.

 

Sarah’s fear may also stem from the possibility of God removing His promise due to her response. Have we feared the same thing, thinking that God will withhold His promises because of our unfaithfulness? Thankfully, our God is gracious, and not as petty as us! Here, we see that God responded by addressing her sin of unbelief, not by removing the promise. As 2 Timothy 2:13 puts, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful”.

 

At the core of this, is perhaps what I find most difficult to surrender: our human wisdom. The way Abraham and Sarah responded was due to their human wisdom, their limited understanding of possibilities based on their accumulated life experiences. The scary thing for me is that the more well trained I am, the harder it seems it is to learn reliance and trust in God. No matter how accomplished we are in our training (secular or Christian), we still have to humble ourselves before God and know we are nothing without His power, especially when it comes to the spiritual battle of winning souls. How many times have we decided that a certain way of ministry is not the way to go, because our human wisdom taught us that this is not efficient, or that is too risky as we are not well-resourced? We often make decisions or limit ourselves based on our human wisdom, having fears of how inadequate we are. We forget to do the important step of discerning whether what we plan to do is according to God’s will. If it is, He will provide, even if the means are not what we expect. Abraham also doubted at first, but we have seen how he grew into a man of unwavering faith, even when facing something as human-wisdom-defying as sacrificing his son. We can be encouraged by that and seek to grow in the same way.

 

REST

Dear God, mould me to be more like Abraham. Remind me of the countless times of how you have been faithful, so that my faith is built on knowing you want the best for me. Amen.

 

Chris Chong