Genesis 21:1- 7 “Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.” She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
After all the half – truths, the manipulation, and the refusal to believe that God would really fulfill his promises – after all the times Abraham and Sarah have refused to believe – God has still come through! Sarah earns the record as the world’s oldest mother and delivers a healthy baby boy. Abraham and Sarah name the baby “Isaac” which means “he laughs.” Did God suggest the name? Who knows? God certainly has a sense of humor so it’s possible.
From a medical standpoint, Sarah’s pregnancy is truly miraculous. Sarah had probably stopped menstruating years ago. God had to rejuvenate Sarah’s ovaries, her uterus, and her vagina. The older a mother is, the more likely it is that the baby might have some genetic problems; yet, Baby Isaac was perfectly healthy. Presumably, Sarah was able to breast feed, yet another miracle. While there have been cases of elderly men fathering children, it’s also true that God would have to make sure Abraham’s sperm count was adequate and that Sarah and he were capable of having sex.
Why did God wait so long to give Abraham and Sarah their promised son? If Isaac had been born when both his parents were younger, they might not have valued him as much, nor would they have had as much respect for God. And God had additional purposes in mind.
God was establishing a people for Himself and He wanted to do it in such a fashion that there would be no doubts that He had his hand on Abraham and his family. From Abraham’s time onward, God did miracles for Abraham’s descendants and for the nation of Israel when it became established.
In Deuteronomy 4 God warns the Isaelites: “32Indeed, ask now from one end of the heavens to the other about the days that long preceded you, from the day that God created man on earth: Has anything as great as this ever happened or been reported? 33Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived? 34Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?
35You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him. 36He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire. 37Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power, 38to drive out before you nations greater and mightier than you, and to bring you into their land and give it as your inheritance, as it is today.”
What has God ever done for you? “Nothing!” you say. Is this true? You have been given life and health, perhaps a home and a family and work to support these things. Did you deserve this? Do any of us deserve any of the blessings God gives us? This past year as COVID – 19 has ravaged the world, many of us have had to re – think the things we have taken for granted for years. Family gatherings, meeting friends at restaurants, attending sporting events of any kind, and even normal shopping – all have had to be drastically curtailed. Ask anyone recovering from COVID and they will tell you that simply to breathe without difficulty and fear is a blessing.
APPLICATION: Perhaps you are angry with God; you feel that things that you enjoyed have been taken away from you. But what do you have left? Perhaps it’s time to choose to forgive God and to appreciate those things that you do have. Gratefulness has been proven to bring health and healing.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for your blessings and your mercy. Thank you that we are alive and can praise you. Help us to look around us and to realize that we are surrounded by people and things that are every bit as miraculous as was the birth of Isaac to two senior citizens. And help us to let go of our resentments when things don’t go just the way we want them to. Help us to trust as Abraham and Sarah did that you have a better plan. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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