Has God ever told you He’d do something in your life that made you question logic, His power, and/or your ability?
I remember a very specific moment hanging out with God where He revealed He had a plan for me that’d blow my wildest dreams. I was sitting on my bed in my quiet apartment as the sun beamed thru my room telling God about my hopes. I wasn't specifically asking for anything, just detailing my sentiments and esteem for "this thing" that I'd ran across and admired from afar. For the first time, that I can remember, I heard a voice say "(it) will be yours." I thought I was crazy for a second, but in that moment, I had vision, peace, and hope like never before. I have to admit, my response wasn't exactly like Mary's, the mother of Jesus, when the angel of the Lord, Gabriel, told the virgin she'd be pregnant and she said “Let it be according to your word.” Luke 1:38 You see, around this time, there was an influx of people going around saying "God told me...." I really didn't want to be one of those people and I didn't want to project their experiences onto mine.
So with a little apprehension, I simmered with that word. What He promised was something I really wanted, but it was also something I didn't deserve. It was something I knew I couldn't obtain and steward without him, which means I was at a real vulnerable place and I'd have to surrender. This would be a faith journey I'd have to walk out depending on God alone.
I'm reminded of what Sarah must've felt like when she learned she'd be pregnant with a son. I imagine barren Sarah immediately laughing to herself like "God, now you want to give me a child...at 65 (ish). That’s impossible. I know you're supreme and all, but I’m so old I don't even produce eggs anymore and I don't have the strength to run after a child. Whomever these men are, are crazy. They surely can't be speaking words from you." I find it ironic how in the very next verse after Sarah allows doubt to fill her mind, God speaks to Abraham asking him essentially why does Sarah not believe what I just told you(Genesis 18:13). God wouldn't even speak to Sarah because she was only focusing on what she knew and saw and not who God is and what He can do.
Hebrews 11: 6 tells us “It’s impossible to please God without faith.” Matt 17:20 tells us we don’t even need a lot of faith to see God move powerfully in, through, and around us. It’s amazing how Sarah’s lack of belief in what God can do overpowered her ability to receive what He wanted to do for her. Where is your faith today? Do you truly believe in God? That He is the Great I AM? That He can do anything at any moment without you even lifting a finger? That He knows you, what’s best for you and that He’ll withhold nothing good from you? Are you refusing to believe what He’s telling you He’s going to do in your life?
On the other side of Sarah’s lack of childlike faith in God, Sarah also disqualifies herself from being usable by God. Sarah is literally ruining her own morale and self-esteem as she compares her reality of inadequacies to her deepest desires. Remember, she’s about 65 and she overhears the plot that God is about to blow her wildest imagination by giving her something she’s never had and has always wanted or assumed she’d naturally get. Most of us would have agreed out of sheer excitement because we counted ourselves out and now we’ve been given hope. Sarah doesn’t do that. Immediately, she thinks she’s unqualified.
I imagine Sarah looking at herself in the mirror questioning every moment up until this point...pondering every past failure and equating them to the curse of her barrenness. She probably allowed fear to creep in somewhere telling her that Abraham would be disappointed again in her failing him to conceive so he might look at other women and could possibly cheat on her. She probably recounted every ugly name inflated on her and took ownership of haunting meanings. I can’t say I haven’t lived in that moment…calling what God deemed beautiful in me as disgusting. I can’t say I don’t pick myself apart or compare what others have to what I lack.
That’s the risk we take when we choose faith. Faith challenges what we see, our track record, and what others say about us and our situations and it forces us to trust God's promise, His track record, and His might. So we’re faced with a choice. If you were Sarah, 65 with no children, would you choose to believe that God will produce eggs, allow them to attach to your husband’s sperm to create a baby boy who’ll start the lineage of heirs outnumbering the stars in the sky? Will you refuse to let people’s opinions count you out? Will you boldly shut down your family’s taunts when they tell you what you’re believing is impossible. Will you cast down the thoughts that oppose what God says will be true for you?
When God makes a promise, He's not asking us to fulfill it. He's going to fulfill it (Isaiah 55:11). In verse 14, God asks Abraham “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?” Chapter 21 gives us the answer and shows us who opens and closes the womb. Cling to God. He knows you. He loves you. He will not fail those whose faith is in him. If He gives you a promise, know and trust, He is faithful to bring it to past.
And blessed is she who believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled. Luke 1:45 NET Selah.
Love,
Kanitria
Guest Contributor: Kanitria Mason, is a marketing and branding professional in Chicago, IL . She loves Lemonade, Biblical Theology, family time and traveling the world.
Instagram @rynnmason on IG
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