If we were having coffee today, I’d lean in and tell you something that has become my lifeline as of late…
God is faithful.
I have been a follower of the She Reads Truth online devotional community for almost a year. I’ve shared what I’ve learned a few times here and here. Normally, I’ve been able to stay up to date on their plans and follow along with, but this round I started very late in the game. I started theWomen of the Bible plan right before the weekend hit.
The story of Sarai/Sarah has been one that I’ve taken interest in since I was little because we shared a name, but what I didn’t realize until this weekend was that was also shared the same fears and doubts.
For those of you who don’t know that story you can read it here: Genesis 15:1-6, Genesis 16, Genesis 17:15-16, Genesis 18:1-21, Genesis 21:1-7.
Sarah was a woman who had been given a promise from God (along with her husband Abraham) that He would bless her with children. There was a hitch in this promise for Sarah.
You see, she was OLD.
Not old like 45 and maybe she could still get pregnant with modern day intervention, but Sarah was in her 80’s. Women at that age just don’t have children. But Sarah held on to the hope that God was faithful. She probably became very excited when Abraham told her the news that they would have a child. She more than likely started preparing her home for a little one and began to dream what her child would be like. But then days turned into months and months turned into years…no baby.
She started to doubt God’s promise to her. Instead of trusting in God’s faithfulness, she chose to make things happen. She decided that if God wasn’t going to open her womb, she would order her servant to conceive a child for her with her husband (talk about dramatic!). Sarah took the plans God had for her and made them into her plans. Her decision to move outside of God’s promise did not bring satisfaction; it brought her more bitterness and a deeper desire to control.
Sarah’s excitement for what God had promised turned into restlessness, which catapulted into sin through her own fears and doubt.
Oh, how I see myself in her.
God’s call to adopt was as strong as any call I’ve had on my life. 8 months ago I was excited and expectant! I knew that God was going to move and do great things in our lives.
And then it got hard. Oh did it get hard.
I started to doubt and fear that maybe God wasn’t as big as who He said He was in the Bible. Or maybe He was, but did He really care enough about us? I began looking for answers in all of the adoption Facebook groups, thinking that if I just knew more about our process or if I could just control one aspect of our adoption…all of this fear would go away. I began to trust the process more than the one who holds the process in His hands.
This part of Sarah’s story ends after 14 years of waiting. She gave birth to Isaac at the age of around 90. Isaac, the promised child, was the father of Jacob, renamed Israel, and the nation of Israel was birthed. God had an intricate plan for this child and family!
And God was faithful to Sarah. During those 14 years, Sarah fell many times to her own fear and doubts, but God never waivered in His promise. He continued to pursue her and remind her of His goodness. God was with her in the wait.
I have a choice and so do you. We can lean into God when the waiting gets hard and experience a deeper relationship with our Heavenly Father, or we can go off on our own and try to find our answers in the idols of our heart. I can promise you, those idols will fail us even if they look pretty and helpful. Friends, let’s lean into the God who never waivers.
The God who does not change and keeps His promises (Num. 23:19).
Today, lets believe that our God has a plan for us and rest in the truth that He is making all things work together for our good (Rom. 8:28).
In Truth and Grace 