Sarah’s Faith

“By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.” (Hebrews 11:11-12)

Yesterday Tuesday morning, when I thought of my God-loved nephew, Missionary Sara, who was lying unconsciously in the intensive care unit in Singapore, the Bible Hebrews 11:11 “By faith even Sarah herself …” came to mind. So, I wanted to meditate on this word of God. And yesterday at 8 PM, at the weekly online family prayer meeting, I proclaimed God's word under the title of “Sarah's Faith.” Then, on this morning, instead of meditating on today's short words, I meditate on the word that I meditated on and proclaimed yesterday and write them down while meditating it again like this.

In Hebrews 11:11, the first half of the Bible says, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, … .” Here, the proper time of life” of Sarah is given in Genesis 17:17 – “Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, ‘Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?’” In a word, Sarah was humanly (medically) unbearable (90 years old). And she never conceived her child until she turned 90. And her husband, Abraham, was 100 years old (v. 17), ‘an old Abraham, as good as a dead man’ (Heb. 11:12, Korean Modern Bible). But God appeared to Abram when he was 99 years old and said to him (Gen. 17:1). I have briefly summarized this word of God in a few words:

Who God is: “I am God Almighty” (v. 1).

God was the first to tell Abram who He was. As I meditated on what God said this way, I was reminded of Exodus 20:2 – “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Then God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites through Moses (vv. 3-17). This is mainly what God says when he makes a covenant, and God first revealed who He is [This is called the “Preamble” theologically].

God’s command: “walk before me and be blameless” (Gen. 17:1).

Maybe Almighty God's purpose for my first baby, Joo Young (meaning: the glory of the Lord), who was born with a disease and stayed in the intensive care unit for 55 days was so that I could obey God and live without blemish before God. So, it may that the Lord is building my family to be a family that obeys God and lives without blemish before God.

God’s covenant: “I will confirm my covenant between me and you” (v. 2).

When God makes a covenant, two things are implied:

God’s promise: God promised Abram, “I … will greatly increase our numbers” (v. 2) and “You will be the father of many nations” (v. 4).

So, God changed the name of “Abram” (meaning: high father or exalted father) to “Abraham” [meaning: father (ancestral) of a great multitude) (v. 5). Also, God promised Abraham, “I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you” (v. 6), “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you” (v. 7), and “The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God” (v. 8). Also, God changed the name of “Sarai” (meaning: my princess) to “Sarah” (meaning: mother of the nations) (v. 15). After that, God promised: “I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her” (v. 16).

Abraham’s responsibility: It was keeping God's covenant (v. 9): “This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised” (v. 10).

Abraham fell facedown, laughed, and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” (v. 17) when God said to him, “I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her” (v. 16). Why did he laugh? Did he laugh because he believed in God and God's promises? I don’t think so. I think Abraham did not believe in God and God's promises. I think that was why he laughed. In modern terms, I think he laughed because it was ridiculous. But in Genesis 18:12, Sarah, Abraham's wife, also laughed to herself. The reason was because the LORD said to her husband Abraham, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son” (v.10 even though she was old and past menopause, and her husband Abraham was too old (vv. 11-12). So, she laughed because she thought God's promise was impossible. Then God also spoke to Sarah: “Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son” (v. 14; Ref.: v. 10). I think of this as 'Sarah’s trial of faith'. The reason I think so is that Almighty God (17:1) said to Sarah’s husband and Sarah, 'I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son' (18:14; Ref.: v. 10). ), but Sarai laughed to herself and muttered to herself, 'I am old and my menopause has passed, and my husband is too old, so how can I have a child?'

When I think about my niece Sara, who is lying unconsciously in the intensive care unit right now, the whole family is begging Heavenly Father to spare her. Perhaps at the same time, the thought that comes to mind is that I do not know what God's will is, and I wonder what to do if God's will is to call her. I think this is a trial of our faith. Of course, the reason we do this trial of faith is because we don't know what God's will is. But I think ultimately, it's because we focus on God's actions instead of His being, who God is. How can we, with our limited understanding, fully comprehend all the works of the infinite providence of God? Never! Life and death is not in our jurisdiction, but in the sovereignty of God. Therefore, I think that when we pray for our loved one in this crisis, we should focus on who God is rather than focusing on God's will. Let's take an example:

The Bible says that God is “God Almighty” (Gen. 17:1).

I think this Almighty God gave faith to Abraham and Sarah, who did not believe in God's promise, so that the couple believed in His promise. So, in Romans 4:18, the Bible says about Abraham like this: “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed …” [(Korean Modern Bible) ‘Abraham hoped and believed the impossible …’]. Here, “Against all hope” (“the impossible”) refers to God’s promise to Abraham, “So shall your offspring be” (‘Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars’) (v. 18, quoted from Gen. 15:5). Naturally, from Abraham's point of view, from a human point of view (Ref.: 2 Cor. 5:7), the reason he had no choice but to think that God's promise was impossible was because he was a 100-year-old man who was as good as a dead man (Heb. 11:12) and his wife Sarah was too old, and she had passed menopause (Gen. 18:11). We think this is impossible because we are not trusting in God with all our heart, but in our understanding (Prov. 3:5). We must not rely on our understanding but trust Almighty God with all our heart. We must believe in God who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist (Rom. 4:17). We must pray to God by believing in Almighty God who works in us with mighty power, the God of great power who raised Christ from the dead and made us sit at his right hand in the kingdom of heaven (Eph. 1:19-20). We must pray to God by believing in the God of great power who raised us who were spiritually dead because of our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1) (the first resurrection) (Rev. 20:5-6) and after we die, He raises us up again at the second coming of Jesus (the second resurrection) (1 Cor. 15:41-56), and who will allow us to sit together with Jesus in the kingdom of heaven (Eph. 2:6).

Now, my cousin, Sharon, is praying for God's miracle while thinking about her second daughter, Missionary Sara. Not only Sharon, but all our family members are praying for Sara for God to miraculously bring Sara back to life. However, the miracle among miracles is that we, who were spiritually dead because of our trespasses and sins, were reborn (regenerated) through God's love and total grace, rather than the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead (Jn. 11). We are spiritually resurrected (the first resurrection). This is the miracle of miracles. This miracle has already been experienced by those of us who believe in Jesus by the grace of God. However, there is a miracle among miracles that we have not yet experienced. It is the day when Jesus comes back into this world (the second coming) that those who have fallen asleep in the Lord (the dead) will rise again (the second resurrection) and will meet the Lord in the air and enter the new heavens and new earth and live with the Lord forever. One of these miracles will be experienced in the future. While looking at Almighty God who makes these miracles possible with faith, we pray together to God for Missionary Sara.

The Bible says that God is the God of covenant (Gen. 17:2).

God made a covenant with Abraham (vv. 2-16). God promised Abram, “I will multiply you exceedingly” (v. 2) and “you will be the father of a multitude of nations” (v. 4). Abraham's responsibility was to keep God's covenant and all males to be circumcised (vv. 9-10). Abraham took on his responsibilities before God. At that time, at the age of 100 years old who was good as dead (Heb. 11:12), he hoped and believed the impossible (Rom. 4:18). His wife Sarah was too old (90 years old) to have a child, but she received the ability to conceive by faith (Heb. 11:11). Here, the Greek word for 'to conceive' is said to be used to describe the male's ability to produce semen (Bruce). Therefore, ‘Abraham was given the strength to conceive with Sarah herself (Internet). Abraham had reached the age of one hundred years, and his body was as good as dead, and his wife Sarah knew that he was too old to give birth, but his faith did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God and was fully assured that what God had promised, He was able to perform (Rom. 4:19-21). We, too, should pray to God with this kind of faith.

I am curious about the promise God has given to my great-grandfather pastor. Although I have never met him, I believe that the God of the covenant made a covenant with my great-grandfather and gave him the word of promise. I believe that He has been and continue to give blessings even now in my grandparents’ generation, my parents’ generation, my generation, my nephews and nieces’ generation, and my grandchildren’s generation and so on. My earnest prayer is that God, who promised to keep God's covenant and give grace and kindness to a thousand generations when we keep His covenant (Exod. 20:6, 34:7; Deut. 5:10, 7:9) until Jesus returns, our entire family, children, and descendants keep God's covenant so that we will receive blessings and glorify God. Also, I wonder what the promises God gave to Missionary Sara when she went to the mission field after being called by God. The reason is because the God of covenant is the God who will surely fulfill His promises to her. While looking at the God of this covenant with faith, we continue to pray to God while remembering the daughter of God's beloved Missionary Sara.

The Bible says that God is a faithful God (Heb. 11:11).

Sarah was too old to bear a child, but by faith she became pregnant because she knew that the promised God was faithful (Heb. 11:11). We, too, should know that our God is faithful and pray to the faithful God in faith. I pray to the faithful God, but when I pray for all my family, I pray that God will continue to fulfill the promises that God gave to my great-grandfather pastor until the second coming of Jesus Christ through generations of descendants. And I pray that God will faithfully continue to fulfill the promise He made to Missionary Sara, who is now lying unconscious in the intensive care unit of the hospital. When I meditated on the faithful God who is the object of my prayer, three Bible verses came to mind: (a) (Num. 23:19) “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (b) (Isa. 55:11) “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (c) (2 Tim. 2:13) “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

Let me conclude this meditation. I heard that Missionary Sara Choi obeyed God's call and went to the mission field and started a prayer meeting with her roommate, Missionary Sara Lee. I heard that now around 600 people are praying together after Missionary Sara Choi suddenly has meningitis and is brain-dead, lying unconscious in the intensive care unit. Sister Faith, the sister of Missionary Sara Choi, asked our family members to pray for the souls of the mission field Missionary Sara served in the mission field. And Faith shared her verses of the Bible with her family, saying that her big brother Timothy said that his sister Sara is like Paul. That Bible verse is Philippians 1:21 – “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” In this way, I can't help but thank God when I see how my niece Faith is overcoming the trial of faith with God's grace and love. It is as if her sculptor is her God who is molding her and creating His masterpiece. When she shared a lengthy post in our family chat room, her aunt wrote in reply: “You were named ‘Faith’ for a reason and purpose!” Hymn “Encamped Along the Hills of Light” the lyrics came to mind: (v. 1) Encamped a-long the hills of light, Ye Christian soldiers, rise, And press the battle ere the night Shall veil the glowing skies. Against the foe in vales below Let all our strength be hurled; Faith is the victory, we know, That over-comes the world. (v. 2) On ev-'ry hand the foe we find Drawn up in dread array; Let tents of ease be left behind, And onward to the fray. Salvation's helmet on each head, With truth all girt about, The earth shall tremble 'neath our tread, And echo with our shout. (v. 3) To him that overcomes the foe White raiment shall be given Before the angels he shall know His name confess'd in heaven. Then onward from the hills of light, Our hearts with love aflame, We'll vanquish all the hosts of night In Jesus' conqu'ring name. (Chorus) Faith is the victory! Faith is the victory! Oh, glorious victory, That over-comes the world. I earnestly hope and pray that Missionary Sara Choi's family, all her relatives, and all her brothers and sisters in Christ who are in the midst of unforeseen great adversity and crisis, gain victory through faith in the Almighty God, the God of the covenant, and the faithful God who will surely fulfill the promises, and even though Missionary Sara, who is lying unconsciously, physically is like a dead man like Abraham, may God give her the strength to breathe on her own and raise her up again, giving her the strength to praise and worship God so that God can be glorified.

Looking to the Almighty God, the God of the Covenant, the Faithful God,

James Kim