TRUSTING GOD WITH A HUMAN HUSBAND
Heb. 11:8-12
* What do you do when the dream is smashed; when illusions of your godly husband's spirituality come crashing in on you?
* When you begin to realize that this "man of God" you married isn't as perfect as you expected him to be? [And it will happen!!!]
Next person among heroes of the faith in Heb 11 is Sarah
What does godly living look like, in the case of a godly O.T. woman?
Certainly she could expect an ideal life with a godly husband!
She was married to Abraham, the “man of faith!”
EVIDENCE OF SARAH'S FAITH
1. Sarah believed God's promise to give her a son Heb. 11:11-12
[ NAS —focus on 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; . . .
Gen 11:30 -”Sarai was barren; she had no children”
Lit.=>"By faith, even sterile Sarah, received the ability to conceive"
"She considered the One who had promised to be trustworthy"
When you read Genesis, you wonder about this N.T. commentary.
She certainly had questions about how God planned to do this.
It looked impossible to her-BUT she considered the One who had promised to be trustworthy!
Every time she thought about it she laughed. HER?!! At her age?
Her body wasn't about to cooperate!
She got so used to laughing about it that she named her son "laughter."
1) Neg. => Because of the impossibility
2) Pos. => Because of the joy
She couldn't count on her old body at 90 but she knew who she could count on.
-She could trust God with that which seemed impossible to her.
[ 2nd evidence of Sarah’s faith, . . . ]
2. Sarah believed God enough to submit to Abraham's headship
1 Pet. 3:1-6
Sarah is the biblical model of submission to your husband!
What an example! Women have hated her ever since!3:6
Context of 3:3-5 That's what holy women did!
When women who were holy and who trusted God wanted to get all "dolled up" so they would look really great, what did they wear?
They put on their best outfit => A GENTLE AND QUIET SPIRIT!
Peter says that’s attractive; it wins men over—even perverse men!
God sees that as an expensive outfit—luxurious evening wear!!
That's what Sarah was doing
* She obeyed Abraham
* She respected him-in Gen. 18:12 she even calls him "LORD"!!!
HE wasn't always acting like a godly man either!
[This thought introduces the third evidence of Sarah’s faith: ]
3. Sarah believed God enough to follow Abraham, even when he was out of line (twice!!!) Gen. 12:10-20
This is Abraham, “the man of faith!”
When he was in danger, did he trust God to save him?
Or did the “man of faith” invent a scheme to get himself out of trouble?
What did Sarah do about it?
Sarah went along with Abraham's scheme—even allowed him to become rich at her expense—pretending to be his sister and allowing herself to be taken into Pharoah's house to become another of his wives.
Incident repeated in Gen. 20:1-18
Sarah again consented to Abraham's plan—after seeing results before!
She consents to his plan and is taken in by another pagan.
4. Sarah believed God enough to give Him credit when the son was bornGen 21:1-7
God did it. -He gets the glory!
She praises Him for His wonderful gift.
She never could have done it herself.
She praised God for His wonderful work. (6-7)
PEOPLE OF FAITH SOMETIMES FACE TIMES OF DOUBT
Like all true believers, Sarah had her struggles with the reality of life!
Things weren't always bright and beautiful!
Sarah was married to a godly, but very human husband!
Sometimes he failed God--sometimes he failed her.
We see the human side of both of them, on occasion.
4 TIMES SCRIPTURE SHOWS THE RESULT OF HER UNBELIEF:
1st Sarah's unbelief is demonstrated when she invents a scheme to help God give them a child
—Her plan to handle problem her own way Gen 16:1-4
• "The Lord has kept me from having children" 16:2
She doesn’t take the problem to God!
• The Lord had promised to give him.
She decides to “help God out.”
She has “a better idea!”
2nd. Sarah's unbelief is demonstrated when she turns on Abraham because her plan didn't work!
Sarah's scheme brought tension into their home. Creates one big mess!
Hagar despises Sarah
Sarah becomes jealous of Hagar
They begin to fight with each other
That's what fleshly schemes do!
When we invent our own plans to “help God out”-scheming to get our way -the result is tension!
The result of her plot was that Hagar despised her.
So what does Sarah do? Does she take her problem to God?Gen 16:5
She blames Abraham—Whose plan was this?
Her plan didn't work out the way she thought it would.
• It brought tension, anger, and disillusionment
• Rather than trust God with the problem,
rather than turn turn TO God,
she turns AGAINST Abraham– takes out her frustration on him.
3rd. Sarah's unbelief demonstrated when she mistreats Hagar Gen 16:6
Sarah treated Hagar harshly and caused her to flee.
Rather than trust God, she again takes out frustration on others.
4th. Sarah's unbelief is demonstrated when she laughed about God's plan to give a son
She couldn't believe good news about a son at 90. 18:10-15
She laughed at the thought
She lost perspective of God’s greatness and faithfulness.
She had this dream once before and it didn’t work out! How long was she supposed to wait! She has to get on with her life!
She had given up!!! -in spite of God’s promise in 17:15-16
Abraham laughed at thought earlier, but God made his intention clear.
Sarah still couldn't believe it.
LESSONS FOR US TODAY:
1. The central issue: Whom do we trust? Godly women trust God.
Are we trusting our husbands for our security and sense of significance?
Are we trusting ourselves?
Are we trusting our income, our possessions, our position?
Godly women, like godly men, have to place their trust in GOD,
NOT our husbands, . . . NOT ourselves, . . .
NOT our income or our possessions! -they ALL fail us.
2. Godly women sometimes fail to trust God!
We all sometimes place our eyes elsewhere and fail to trust him.
How does it work out? Just like it did for Sarah!!!
* Frustration * Disappointment * Anger/bitterness
And yet, Sarah goes down in the hall of heroes, as a godly woman of faith!
You, too, will sometimes fail.
You, too, will not always trust Him.
You will come up with your own schemes.
You will go through frustration, disappointment, anger, bitterness, attacks on, and perhaps by, your husband.
That doesn't mean you have no place among godly people of faith!
Satan will tell you that but it's a lie!
The issue is: what's our basic approach to life?
Have we committed our life to Him?
Are we trusting Him with our life and our future?
Or, are we trusting our own schemes?
Sarah trusted God, but she sometimes blew it! So will we!
3. Godly people sometimes create dysfunctional families.
Some aspects of their family were as dysfunctional as it can get.
Sarah encourages Abraham to have a sexual relationship with her servant.
She can't meet his need.
She’s incapable of carrying out God's plan, so she hands him another woman.
This isn't about sex--but it is about meeting a need,
She’s incapable of meeting his need.
It's about emotional entanglements of extra-marital sexual encounters.
Their whole relationship comes apart as a result
* Notice what happens between Sarah and Hagar
* Notice what happens between Sarah and Abraham
Their motives are pure but their relationship comes apart.
Abraham's dealing with Sarah: Twice he sends her off to a pagan king's harem-to protect his own skin!
Wives, how would you feel about that kind of treatment?
The "Mothers' Day Dilemma!"
That's not exactly our ideal Christian family.
Not what you envision life with a godly husband being.
The dream was shattered! How did Sarah respond?
A mixed reaction! She had good days and bad days.
These weren't exactly great times for Sarah.
But don't miss God's evaluation in 1 Peter 3:5-6
It's not easy to be a godly woman-even living with a "godly" husband.
When he lets you down-when the dream is shattered-where do you turn?
Godly women have to turn back to God.
That's what godly living is all about.
It's trusting God, even when your world comes crashing in around you, and dressing appropriately for godly living!
4. Life for a godly woman-even living with a godly man -isn't always moonlight and roses!
Trusting God has to allow for the humanity of your spouse! That's a 2-way street! (Children: that’s true for your parents too!!)
Sarah learned the frustration of living with a godly man.
So will your wife, men! Mine certainly has!
So will you, wives!!
Frequently our pain comes because we have misplaced expectations.
We expect people to fulfill commitments they aren’t able to fulfill.
We expect ourselves to accomplish things we can’t accomplish.
We place our eyes–our hopes–on the wrong place.
The only absolute you can always count on to be faithful is GOD!
So why do we suffer?
Because we are placing our confidence in the wrong person.
Or, we are depending on God, but we expect God to fulfill HIS plan OUR way!
We suffer because our expectations are wrong!
We have to get our perspective right.
We must place our confidence in God alone.
We must trust Him to accomplish HIS will, HIS way.
What do you have to face this week?
Whatever it may be, waatch your perspective.
Keep your focus on God–not people–even godly people.
Trust Him to accomplish HIS will HIS way in your life!
God has not promised skies always blue, flower strewn pathways all our life through.
God has not promised . . . joy without pain.
But God HAS promised strength for the day
light for the pathway
He HAS promised that He’ll never leave us nor forsake us.
He’s promised that He will be faithful–we can count on Him.
He’s promised to use the hard times in our life to make us into all He wants us to be.
He’s promised that He will finish what He started in us!
Sarah’s story reminds us that WE can trust God in the hardest time–even with a husband who turns out to be less than we’d hoped for.
We can trust HIM, even when the dream is smashed. –HE is faithful! He can use it for our good!