July 2022
Nougat 27
Sometimes the promise comes with a Herculean task or within the context of the (humanly) impossible. Today’s Holy Nougat
“So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?” Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”” Genesis 18:12, 14 NLT
Ageism is a challenge to many of us. We’re often too young to be selected for a role or to represent ourselves; or we’re being reminded of our ‘sell by’ date. For either group, there’s the strong possibility that ongoing reference to our age realizes emotional scarring. When age is combined with childbearing … oh the impact can be traumatic. Just think – the murmurs about an adolescent’s youth if she’s found to be pregnant (especially if unwed); or the ongoing questions to a not so/young couple who are childless. I assure us, having journeyed with both … it is painful to the individuals.
There is another group, the long-term barren individual/couple. They have tried multiple times to no avail. In many modern instances, adoption is not the first option, and even then, the reality of one’s own ‘insufficiency’ is hard to handle. We remember Rachel, the beautiful, beloved but barren wife of Jacob whose desperate quest for a child might have been the death of her (Genesis 29-30). Or Hannah, whose ‘matey’ took pleasure in reminding Hannah of her barrenness, in a culture where fertility was venerated (see 2 Samuel 1). And, in the New Testament we find Elizabeth and Zechariah, John the Baptist’s parents. They’d waited ‘in vain’ for children to the extent that Zechariah, the priest of God, lost hope (see Matthew 1).
But before those women was Sarai, the official wife of Abram/Abraham. Her desperation for children resulted in triangulation, jealousy, abuse and despair. And they’d been recipients of God’s promise. By the age of 90, she was well past childbearing years, and Hope was almost fully gone. Overhearing someone telling her husband yet again that they would be parents might have been a slap in the face – had they not been trying all the years, eating, drinking, timing according to local customs? And, having had his son, sexual relations between her and Abram might have ended. She had every right to scoff or even laugh to herself.
God’s response to Sarai is that which brings us all to Hope. For God’s response through the messenger (evangelion/ie angel) was about God’s identity and capacity. In the phrase, ‘Is anything too difficult for the Lord?’, we are reminded that with voice, God created from nothingness. And as Lord, God was also their sovereign, to Whom they owed their allegiance (even when it seemed hard to trust).
So, before we apply that promise, let’s each of us stroll down Memory Lane. Have any of us met and proven God, Who overwrites the impossible? If yes, let us take the moment to be grateful for past miracles. Then, we water someone else’s Faith by sharing our testimony. Now, we can place our current ‘barren’ situation before our Sovereign, asking for Divine intervention.
Remember, from original promise to Sarai’s reality was close to 25 years; from the moment of God’s visit in the above pericope to Isaac’s birth – less than 12 months. God’s promises can be a long journey in self acceptance; or an ‘and suddenly’! Regardless of, our Faith ought not diminish.
Finally, this creative miracle reminds us that we are never too old for God’s grace in our lives. The gift of a child assures us God’s even got the itty unborn baby in the plans. We praise God for being with us on our journey, no matter our age or gender.
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May all we seek be found in Christ