One of the most encouraging stories of all time is the one about the Bitter Lady who held in her heart the success or failure of the great plan of salvation. Her decision to go one way or the other was pivotal for the world. No, it was not the Virgin Mary, for she was never bitter. It was Sarah, the wife of Abraham; she indeed was bitter at one time, as only a woman could be in her circumstance. She and Abraham were one flesh, as is true of all genuine marriages. It would have been impossible for God's promises to Abraham to be fulfilled if his wife had chosen to block the way through unbelief (those promises in Gen. 12:1-3 included the coming of the Messiah through whom "all families of the earth [should] be blessed").
Both Abraham and Sarah were old and childless, and everybody thought the problem was Sarah--she was incapable of becoming pregnant--a shameful thing for a woman in those days. As the years and decades ground by slowly with no pregnancy in sight, Sarah felt the blame keenly. Undoubtedly she had prayed and prayed, yet nothing happened. When you believe that God is Almighty and you pray and pray about a problem and nothing happens, what do you do? Sarah blamed God. She vented her bitterness on her husband: "See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children" (Gen. 16:2). She realizes that she is standing in the way of God's fulfillment of His promises to Abraham, and it's not her fault! God is to blame! The entire affair of Hagar, the slave-girl turned second wife, is programmed by Sarah's bitterness.
Meanwhile, there is no way that "all families of the earth [can] be blessed" except that Abraham must have a "child of promise." When Hagar bore Ishmael, Sarah's bitterness only got worse. Hagar lorded it over her in subtle ways (women are sometimes capable of treating women that way!) until Sarah couldn't stand it any longer. She blew up in her husband's face: "My wrong be upon you! ... The Lord judge between you and me" (vs. 5). If there were any doors in their tent, she probably slammed them as she walked out. But then the story changes and becomes beautiful. Sarah did some thinking. Hebrews 11:11 says that she reconsidered and "she judged that He who had promised would keep faith," and so "by faith even Sarah herself received strength to conceive, though she was past age" (NEB).
The blessed result: "Therefore from one man, and one as good as dead [Sarah?], there sprang descendants numerous as the stars or as the countless grains of sand on the sea-shore" (vs. 12). Among them: One who "saved the world." It's time for you and me to "judge that He who has promised will keep faith."
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 28, 2000.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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