Apple of His Eye - Sarah (Part 1)

Dearest Eves

How wonderful it has been to embark on this journey through the Bible to discover Abba’s blueprint for the women of His Kingdom! It has been quite an interesting read through B’resheet (Genesis) with a magnifying glass to seek out the women and their place within His divine plan and purpose. 

As we continue, let’s take a closer look at the blueprint of Sarah, she was quite a remarkable woman and her story, alongside Abraham, is one that spans across many chapters within B’resheet. Such a story cannot be dissected within one blog post only and therefore, for the next 2 posts, we will focus on Sarah (part 1 & part 2). 

A special promise given…

“And I shall make you a great nation, and bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing!” - B’resheet (Genesis) 12:2.

“And He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward the heavens, and count the stars if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So are your seed” - B’resheet (Genesis) 15:5.

“As for Me, look, My covenant is with you, and you shall become a father of many nations. And no longer is your name called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, because I shall make you a father of many nations. And I shall make you exceedingly fruitful, and make nations of you, and sovereigns shall come from you” - B’resheet(Genesis) 17:4-6.

Here we see parts of a special promise given to Abraham by Abba from the early days of creation - He will be a father! Abba made a covenant with Abraham, but Abba knew that Abraham would need a special counterpart to fulfil His covenant. Her name was Sarah. A woman hand picked by Abba for this purpose and formed through faith - with a little doubt.

The blessing and curse of her identity…

“And it came to be, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, See, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at. And it shall be, when the Egyptians see you, that they shall say, ‘This is his wife.’ And they shall kill me, but let you live. Please say you are my sister, so that it shall be well with me for your sake, and my life be spared because of you. And it came to be, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. And Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her before Pharaoh, and the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. And he treated Abram well for her sake, and he had sheep, and cattle, and male donkeys, and male and female servants, and female donkeys, and camels. But יהוה plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not inform me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? And so I was going to take her for my wife. Look, here is your wife, take her and go” - B’resheet (Genesis) 12:11-19.

Here we have stumbled across the first real characteristic of Sarah. She was a beautiful woman who was praised for the way she looked and no doubt how she carried herself. Yet, her husband Abraham had one request - say you are my sister! Thereby not allowing her to assume the position of her identity as a wife in its entirety. Sarah still obeyed Abraham and did as he asked thereby fulfilling half her role as a wife. Through her obedience to Abraham they were blessed with many earthly things such as livestock and other valuable possessions by none other than the Pharaoh. However, in the end the secret was out that Sarah was indeed married and had an identity as a wife. This came to be through plagues Abba caused on Pharaoh and his household. Abba cursed Pharaoh in this manner because of Sarah not embodying her God given identity as a married woman - during this season - and that He knew Pharaoh’s heart and plans, these were not in-line with what Abba had planned for Sarah. Abba can see our whole life spaced out in front of Him, while we cannot even know what will happen in the next five minutes. He is aware of everything and He knows best - even if we are not of the same opinion. 

Dearest Eve, how many of us do not completely live into the identity given by Abba? We are blessed to move through many seasons of life, from a girl to a young woman to a lady in waiting to a fiancé to a wife to a mother - if that is Abba’s will for our lives. We all have different seasons in life and we must enjoy and fully embody our identity as such. 

However, the curse we fall victim to quite often is that we tend to lean towards something that suits us well for the time being in an earthly sense, like Abraham receiving valuable possessions through the image Sarah portrays to Pharoah, for us it might be possessions too or a job or a relationship or time. Whatever it is, we know deep down that it will only last as long as our “image” or “identity for the time being”  lasts in the eye of the giver. Take note of the word giver! There is a big difference between the words “giver” and “provider”, someone gives out of their own will and abundance what they think is best for a sometimes selfish goal/gain, while a provider makes provision for a future event in time - just enough and when it is needed. Abba is our only provider. He knows what we need and when we need it. His provision does not stop because of our “image” not being ‘on trend’ or when we are ‘over our expiry date’. Terms I know many of us have heard in one or other aspect of our lives. We need to live fully and unapologetically in our God given identity to enable Abba to reward us - earthly possessions will fall away, time is borrowed to us and relationships are blessings which are fleeting. Truths which are hard to hear because we live in a time where earthly happiness is overwhelming and fading out heavenly eternity. 

A longing to take action to have Abba’s promise come faster…

“And Sarai, Abram’s wife, had bore him no child. And she had a Mitsrian female servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “See, יהוה has kept me from bearing children. Please, go in to my female servant. It might be that I am built up by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her female servant, the Mitsrian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Kena‛an. And he went into Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my female servant into your bosom. And when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. Let יהוה judge between you and me.” And Abram said to Sarai, “See, your female servant is in your hand, do to her what is good in your eyes.” And Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence” - B’resheet (Genesis) 16:1-6.

Here we read a somewhat controversial piece in the story of Abraham and Sarah as we in our modern day and age cannot fathom having a child with someone else, however, in old testament days these occurrences were quite common. We also see that the longing for the fulfilment of Abba’s promise is weighing down on both Sarah and Abraham. So what is done is again an earthly decision to suit their needs - just like with Pharaoh in Egypt - only this time Sarah had a request for her husband. To have a child with Hagar, her servant. When the deed was done and a child conceived things did not work out for Sarah as she thought they would - she was unhappy and chose to make everyone unhappy around her because of her choices to rush Abba into fulfilment of His promise. 

How often do we not want to take things into our own hands when it comes to Abba’s promises and purpose in our lives? We think that we know what is best for ourselves but truly we only want to satisfy our “now-earthly” needs. When things don't work out as we anticipated we get upset about it and do everything in our power to make it known or to hide it for that matter. Abba knows what we need and when we need it. A promise or purpose fulfilled prematurely will not give the glory to Abba as it should - we might not be ready to receive all that comes with a promise from Abba just yet! 

A touch on Sarah’s blueprint…

We need to wait on Abba’s appointed time for He knows when we are ready to receive a blessing which he promised us. We cannot take things into our own hands - whether we listen to someone else and agree to do something or we are in control of the action - we cannot rush Abba. Earthly satisfaction will not bring forth Godly fulfilment or the purpose we have within the Kingdom. So embrace your identity in your current season of life - whether that might be as a student, a friend, a sister, a fiancé or a mother to be. Enjoy it! These moments will be fleeting but Abba’s promise to you is everlasting.

Until next time…

Shalom,

Neréne