The story of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac is a staple of Sunday School classes all over, but thanks to my Pastor's wife, I found a very personal new lesson it in.
Abram's father died, he is childless, his life must be worthless...and then this voice told him to move to a new land that he was not familiar with, he will not only have a family, but he will become a great nation that will bless the entire world. Big words.
But Sarai, his wife, felt she could not live up to these words. She was old and could not have a child. She knew how she could make this happen, even if it was not through her- personally. She gave her husband her maid, and let her have a child for him. She would make God's promise come true in the only way she could think of.
Too bad she couldn't control her jealousy for her maid and her husband's son. And well, that wasn't God's plan anyway. God's plan was for her to be the mother of this nation, despite her age, and her mistakes.
Then in Genesis 17, God talks to Abram again, and...He changes Abrams name. He claims Abram as His own, and He claims Sarai. Even though she took matters into her own hands, even though she thought she knew better, even though she messed up the plan from the early perspective God still claimed her and made things right.
Sarai was trying to do what was right; she was doing her best with the means she could see, but she didn't fully trust in God's words and she did it wrong. God, however, fixed it. He still loved her, took care of her, and fulfilled His promise.
I don't know about you, but I certainly know that I have made my fair share of mistakes. I have taken matters into my own hands and have often not liked the results. However, I trust that as God claimed Sarai, changing her name to Sarah, He has also claimed me and will fix my mistakes as well.
I certainly have many venues to ruin with my own ideas and actions, despite the best of intentions. I am a wife, a mom, a daughter, a sister, a teacher, and a believer. This is a place for me to examine my actions, the consequences, and hopefully the final results which won't be mine, but God's- though hopefully I won't get in the way too much.
