Genesis 21:1-8 The Birth of Isaac (Romans 8:12-17; Galatians 4:1-7)
“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. (“Isaac” means “he laughs”) 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.”
So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.”
God sends a son of promise to a 100-year-old man and a 90-year-old woman. At this point, all is peace in the camp and the celebration is phenomenal. Why wait until the day that Isaac is weaned? By this point, Isaac is probably two years old, and unlikely to become an infant mortality statistic. While there may have actually been fewer infectious diseases to kill small children in those days, the infant mortality rate must have been sadly significant.
Sometimes God does things that are so stupendous all we can do is to worship and to celebrate. In July 1955 my father’s car was struck by a drunk driver as he was returning from a nearby town with parts to repair his combine during the oats harvest. Dad’s injuries were so severe that he had a near-death experience during which he saw his dead grandparents in heaven. Dad woke to find Mom at his bedside sobbing, “Lowell, don’t leave us!” That accident happened when Dad was 32, and he lived another 57 years, dying just short of his 89th birthday. The day we brought Dad home from the hospital was truly a day of celebration. All of us realized how close we had come to losing Dad. After weeks of commuting to the hospital, Mom was finally able to resume a more normal household routine and to continue to raise her three small children while Dad recovered.
Perhaps you are reading these words and feeling cheated; after all, God has never done anything that miraculous for you. But how are you so sure? Lamentations 3:21-24 tells us, “Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
This last week, a wife and mother underwent what was supposed to be a small routine procedure; however, due to an underlying problem we did not know about, she suffered a cardiac arrest during the procedure. We successfully resuscitated her; however, she never regained full consciousness and died a few days later. If you are alive and you are reading these words and are in good health, you are enjoying miracles, even if you don’t recognize them. If your son or daughter or a grandchild is graduating and you can celebrate with them, you are enjoying miracles. If you can read these words, you are enjoying the miracle of good eyesight and a brain that functions. You are a walking miracle, and this knowledge should cause you to celebrate and also to have peace in the knowledge that God is still moving in your life.
As I was writing these words, the dawn sky is lighting the delicate tracery of the flame tree leaves outside my window. Repeatedly, God has used flame trees and their leaves to remind me that He is the One who has created every cell in those leaves while I can’t describe a single part of the process. This morning, I am celebrating the flame trees in our back yard and rejoicing that I serve a God who knows every cell of their being as well as every cell of mine. And I have peace, knowing that my Creator cares for me just as much as He does for those flame trees.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we are surrounded by miracles that we fail to recognize. Help us to celebrate Your goodness and Your bounty in our lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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