Be Honest With God

A short time after God had made the covenant with Abraham, he appears to Abraham again, in Genesis 18:1-10a.  “And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant.

And they said, So do, as thou hast said.

And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.  And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.  And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.”   

And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife?

And he said, Behold, in the tent.

And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son…”  God repeated his promise the give Sarah a son, adding the detail that at the proper time in her cycle, she would get pregnant and the following year she would have a baby. 

Sarah had heard the promises that they would have a child for the past twenty four years, but nothing had happened.               Sarah overheard the promise, but after so long she really couldn’t believe it was really going to happen as we see in Genesis 18:10b-12.  “And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.   Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.  Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”   While the idea of finally having a baby sounded wonderful. Sarah could not imagine any way it could happen at her age.  She was well beyond the normal age for bearing children. 

Sarah had become so used to things working according to certain basic principles that she had forgotten it was God who made those principles and he is not bound by them.  God reminded them of this, in Genesis 18:13-14.  “And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?  Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”  Because God is not limited by the laws of nature, Luke 1:37 tells us, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”  He can change the rules to make it possible.  It didn’t matter whether she was still producing eggs naturally or not, he couls still cause her to get pregnant.   

Pride make it hard for people to admit they are wrong, and Sarah was no exception as Genesis 18:15 tells us.  “Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.”   God heard Sarah laugh, yet she tried to tell him she didn’t.  We are only fooling ourselves when we try to hide what we thought or did.  God knows exactly what we think, so we just as well be honest about it.  Sometimes even the most spiritual person struggles with doubt, and God understands that.  He will forgive if we admit it, but he wants us to be honest with him.