Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
Genesis 18:11
Recommended Reading: Romans 4:18-21
In the Old Testament, children were considered “a heritage from the Lord … a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior …. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them” (Psalm 127:3-5). Hannah, the eventual mother of Samuel, is an example of an Israelite woman anxious because of her barrenness (1 Samuel 1:1–2:11).
Abraham and Sarah are another example of a barren couple. But at ages near-one hundred and ninety respectively, God appeared to them and promised them a son (Genesis 17:15-17). Sarah doubted God’s promise at first but eventually came to believe that her womb would bear the fruit she had longed for: “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” (Hebrews 11:11). Abraham and Sarah were learning to trust the God who called them from Mesopotamia to Canaan to walk with Him. Sarah learned that patient faith would see the promises of God fulfilled.
If you are waiting on God to answer your prayer, combine your faith with patience. Like Sarah, “judge Him faithful.”
Hope is the foundation of patience.
John Calvin
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