By Faith - Abraham and Sarah

Wow...this is NOT a good thing. Last time I had sit down devotions was in September. We talked about Abel, Enoch and Noah. Today we'll talk about Abraham and Sarah.

⁸By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. ¹¹By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. ¹²Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

The verses above come from Hebrews 11.

Abraham and Sarah were husband and wife.
God told Abraham to leave his land and go to a land that he would show him. From Genesis 12 we read:

¹Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing...

I have to admit, I do wonder sometimes, how did God show Abraham were to go? We don't read of pillars of fire or cloud...so how did Abraham know which way to go. But overall that's a non-issue, the fact is God said go and Abraham obeyed even though he had no clue about where he would end up. He ended up in Canaan.

Why did he take this trip at God's command? For the simple reason that he was looking forward ...he looked forward "to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God". He knew that God had something more in store for him. That takes faith, to see beyond the present and to know that there is something more out there. Abraham knew that God was real and therefore obeyed him.

Sarah for her part did not try to stop him from going, and she was able to have a baby in her old age. Even though she laughed, she still had a child by Abraham as per God's promise to her.

¹⁰The LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?"

And later we read

1The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. 2And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me." 7And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

Sarah born a child, she had that distinct pleasure that it is to have a child of your own. Her shame as a woman was removed from her (in those days to be a woman and not be able to have a child was a shameful thing).

By faith in God, marvellous things happened to Abraham and Sarah. They obeyed him, their lives were forever changed.

May my faith in God be as abiding as was the faith of Abraham and Sarah.