Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Daughters of Sarah?!!

Hmmm...  Let me see...  Yes, I'm talking about Sarah, the wife of Abraham.  Didn't she just have one child, a son named Isaac?  From my studies in the Bible, I don't see where she had any other children.  When Isaac was born, she was very OLD.  So how could Sarah have any daughters?

Sarah may have many daughters, ...and guess what?  You may be one of them!  Speaking of Abraham's wife Sarah, Peter said in 1Peter 3:6 "You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear."

I've been doing some thinking about that and have come to the conclusion that Sarah was either a very brave woman, or a coward who couldn't stand up to her husband.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm referring to those passages in Genesis where it tells us Abraham asked Sarah to say that she was his sister rather than his wife; Sarah obliged - not once, but twice  (Genesis 12:10-20 and Genesis chapter 20).  It really makes me upset with Abraham to think that he would put his wife in this kind of predicament in order to save his own skin. 

If it weren't for Peter's words about Sarah, I would probably feel that she was just a victim in both these accounts, someone who didn't stand up for her own rights.  It doesn't appear this is the way Peter thought of her, though.  It sounds like Peter  thought Sarah was a very brave woman, and respected Sarah for her trust and faith in God to take care of her even when her husband allowed her to be placed in difficult circumstances. 

It amazes me that Sarah still had respect for her husband when sometimes he goofed so badly.  Respect seems to be what men need, ...but sometimes it's very hard to give!  I think that's an area that is often under attack in my own marriage - defining where that fine line is of holy submission and allowing God to fight for me if my husband sometimes makes decisions that I don't agree with, or when I need to stand up and speak up as "equal partners" as Peter talks about only a few verses later on. 

A former pastor of mine summed this up pretty well in speaking to us wives.  He said that when we didn't exactly agree with our husbands, we just needed to trust God and remember to "duck," letting our husbands take responsibility for the outcome of their actions or decisions.  So, let's just get our helmets on in case we don't duck quickly enough!

(In the above article I am in no way condoning abusive situations. If you find yourself in an abusive situation, please get the help you need to be safe, whether counselling, a safe house or shelter, etc.)



2 comments:

Shirley said...

Very good post!

Alice said...

May we be daughters of Sarah, too! Love the way you rouse our curiosity with the title...