Since September, I have been studying the book of Genesis in-depth. It never ceases to amaze me how these words that were recorded thousands of years ago can still speak into my life with such power and applicability! And, boy, has God been speaking! I am so thankful for His Word that is alive and active and sharper than a two-edged sword! I need Him and His truth to cut away those parts of me that are not pleasing to Him and re-member me, making me whole again according to His original design for my life!
This week, as I meditated on Genesis 18 and the life of Sarah, I found so many similarities to my own life. Let me explain....we know that many of the commands and blessings given under the Old Covenant have a spiritual application for us under the New Covenant. For example, the command to be fruitful and multiply was a physical command to procreate and fill the earth. We see this paralleled in a spiritual context in the New Testament when Jesus commanded his followers to "...go and make disciples of all nations..." (the Great Commission). As it was with the command, so it is with the promise. For Sarah, the promise was for the physical fruit of her womb. For us (New Testament believers), the promise is for spiritual fruit bearing (John 15).
Just as Sarah was utterly incapable of producing a son on her own, I too am utterly incapable of bearing spiritual fruit on my own. She could look at her body and see nothing but wrinkles, old age, barrenness, and a reproductive system that was long past menopause. How can this old, worn-out flesh possibly bring forth new life?
Oh, how I identify with her! I look at myself and ask God, "How can you bring forth anything eternal from my life? Me? With this root of contempt that still lingers? With this tongue that is so quick to retort in the flesh instead of responding in the spirit? With my Pharisee heart? With my tendency to judge? With this ugly pride that continues to rise up in me?" And just as Sarah's womb was dried up, I feel like the well of my love has run dry! Oh, Paul's lament is mine as well, "I do the things I don't want to do, and I don't do the things I want to do." (Romans 7)
Only with faith eyes could I ever possibly look at my life and BELIEVE that anything eternal (anything of Kingdom Impact) could come from my time upon this earth. Without God, the chance of me bearing fruit isn't just one in a million; it's zero in infinity! But with God, all things are possible! The One who has made the promise is faithful. He will do exactly as He says.
I am Sarah. And my God has chosen me as His own. Because of His great and lavish love, He adopted me into His family, redeeming my life from the pit and making me a trophy of His grace! HE is doing the good work in me. HE is the Author of my story! He wrote my story before He ever created this world, and it's a good story, filled with good works which were prepared by Him for me personally and individually, tailor-made for my exact design and blueprint before the foundations of this earth were laid! And the Author of this story won't quit halfway through. Human authors may abandon their novels and leave them undone and unfinished, but the Lord never abandons His because when He's writing my story, He's actually writing His Story! I am not living a Kristy-story. I am living a God-story. I am one of the ways He reveals Himself in this world. I am an expression of the Divine. My life is meant to reveal a facet of HIM! And would He give up on Himself? Never! No, not ever! It is to the Father's glory that our lives bear much fruit! He is jealous FOR us because He is jealous for His Glory! Never fear...as unlikely as it may seem to human eyes, we who are in Christ will SHINE with the light and the beauty of our God if and when we abide in HIM!
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