“All God's giants have been weak men and women who have gotten hold of God's faithfulness.” - Hudson Taylor
In Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith chapter of the Bible, the writer showcases the great men and women of faith whose lives are an inspiration for all generations. One thing they all had in common was indeed faith. They all portrayed different characteristics of faith, expressed different forms that were evident in their actions and turned impossible situations in their favor. It is often wrongly assumed that they all somehow possessed superhuman ability which resulted in them having the strong, unwavering and consistent faith. We could easily overlook the fact that they were all people with nature like ours. However, they all received immense grace from God, and that enabled them to be overcomers.
In verse 11 of the same chapter, we see Abraham’s wife Sarah is mentioned. When Sarah was yet to have a child, God spoke of her as the mother of nations. At that time, they were still waiting for a long while to receive God’s promise of a child and both Abraham and Sarah were getting very old and well advanced in age.
Hebrews 11:11 reads: “By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.”
In order for Sarah to receive strength, could it imply that she was weak in faith at some point prior? When we look at her life in Genesis chapter 18, a year ago before Isaac was born, God reminded them of the promise. The reaction of Sarah was noted that she laughed from unbelief. From the time she suggested Hagar to Abraham until she laughed and tried to hide, for several years then Sarah wasn’t really able to fully embrace that the promise of God would come to pass in her life. Fulfilment of God's promise would be naturally impossible due to age and any reasonable person in her situation could potentially find it very difficult to believe.
What could’ve possibly changed in order for her to receive that strength? From what we see in the book of Hebrews, she made an incredible decision and “considered Him who had given her the promise to be reliable and true to His word”. That is a great shift in thinking to take the focus off of her own inabilities and place it squarely on God who is faithful. What a remarkable faith that enabled her to receive strength to birth the impossible!
Sarah indeed is an inspiration and gives tremendous hope to us that we can also draw such strength from God’s faithfulness, when faced with impossible challenges! God remains faithful and we can surely rely on Him all the time. Like Sarah, let us judge Him faithful in all situations! May His strength that is made perfect in our weaknesses, empower you today to see God's promises fulfilled and every impossible situations turned around in your life!
