I have always felt a kindred spirit with Sarah in the Bible. When I was little it was because we shared the same name and as I grew older I felt we had the same personality. Little did I know how very similar our lives would be. Sarah and I were both always getting ourselves into pickles that only God could sort out. Not many people know that in her first appearance in the Bible she had to pretend to be Abraham’s (her husband) sister so that the Pharoah would not kill Abraham and take her as his wife. Turns out, he took her anyway. God sent a plague to punish Pharoah and she got away. This happened not only with that guy, but also with Abimelech. God told him in a dream that she was really Abraham’s wife and he gave her back…with presents! First two pickles and God sorted it all out. Now to the story everyone knows as interpreted by me: There Sarah is 65 years old having lived a very eventful life being married to one of God’s good guys Abraham, or as I like to call him, Abe. She now has everything she ever dreamed of, beautiful house, great husband, but no kids. This presents a dilemma not because she wants them, but also because God had promised her husband that he himself would populate a whole nation. Well, after ten years, and being the control freak that she most certainly was, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She gave her husband her maid to sleep with so they could have a child. Wow….great thinking on her part. Well he did and the maid had a child. Sarah got really jealous and sent the maid with her son away. I can only imagine what ole Abe’s household was like during those days!
So years later, and I love how the Bible skips years so you can fill in the gaps in your head; I am thinking there were many a fight, many tears, many depressions in those years. I bet she even packed her stuff to leave a few times. I can’t wait to ask her when I meet her. Anyway, so by this time she is 90 and Abraham is polishing off a century, and I am sure she has completely given up on her dream. One day, three guys stopped by their house, and being the good hostess she was, she went in the kitchen to cook for them. Being a little nosy herself, she listened in on what the guys were discussing. I can picture her there with cornbread in the oven and her ear to the door. They actually told Abe that Sarah would conceive a child. She did exactly what I would have done in that situation: She burst into laughter, truly I Love Lucy style no doubt. They said in a year she would have a baby. Seriously! She was old and she had given up on all that. I mean honestly, was this just a ridiculous joke? But guess what…despite her doubt, and despite her mistrust in God’s promise, she had little Isaac a year later. Classic Sarah story, and by Sarah I mean me (hopefully).
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