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Challenges of Following God
Believe God

Genesis 17:15-19; 18:10-15
Genesis 17:15-19—“God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her." Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!" Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.” (NIV) Genesis 18:10-15—“ hen the LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?" Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, `Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son." Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh." But he said, "Yes, you did laugh."” (NIV)
1) Too often we overlook that while Abraham is the father of our faith, Sarah was also given a mighty blessing here—the mother of nations and kings (Genesis 17:16)! While all creation is called upon to submit to higher authorities and everyone has their God-giving role in life, don’t ever, ever think that as the result of Eve’s giving in to temptation, God doesn’t hold women in high esteem. (See Genesis 1:28; Romans 13:1; Titus 3:1; Ephesians 5:21-33; Colossians 3:17-25 and James 4:7—even Christ submitted to the authority of God the Father –John 8:28.)
a) In Genesis 3:15, the precious promise of a Savior! Through whom would this promise come? We see this fulfilled in Luke 1:26-35.
b) Diverse roles, yes, but, in Christ there is no male or female (Galatians 3:28.) When Christ walked the earth, He greatly elevated a woman’s position both in Christ and in the world’s society. Take time to read:
i) Matthew 9:19-22 – The first and only woman to be called “daughter” by Jesus.
ii) Matthew 15:22-28 – A Canaanite (non-Jewish) woman was highly commended by Christ for her great faith!
iii) Matthew 26:6-13 – A harlot—forever memorialized for her great love, by Jesus Himself!
iv) Matthew 27:55 – Jesus’ disciples had fled His passion and crucifixion, save John, but, praise God—many women were with Him at his death!
v) In Matthew 28:1-10, we find that it is the women coming to tend to Jesus’ body in death and are greatly blessed and honored to be the first witnesses His resurrection! Glory, girls! In fact, they were honored to be the first to tell the good news (Matthew 28:5-10).
2) Here we are in Genesis 17:18, witnesses to something that must deeply touch the heart of every parent—Abraham pleading to God to let His blessing fall on his child, Ishmael. You have to go back to Genesis 16 to learn about Ishmael’s conception.
a) What was ultimately behind Sarah’s motivation to give her servant to Abraham?
b) Was Ishmael a child born of God’s faithful promise or through Abraham and Sarah’s own fleshly efforts?
3) Why did God not honor Abraham’s request? (See Genesis 16; Romans 9:1-9; and Galatians 3:2-3, 7-9, 14, 16-18 and 26-29.)
4) Did God love and have compassion for Ishmael? (See Genesis 17:20)
5) Unbelief expressed by Abraham and Sarah in their laughter! God is so patient (slow to boil) with us! You see in these passages that God has definitely got a sense of humor because He tells Abraham and Sarah to name their child Isaac, which, of course, means “he laughs.”
a) What are some other symptoms to unbelief to God’s Word? (See Matthew 17:14-17 Romans 4:20; 8:15; and Hebrews 3:7-11, 19.)
b) Where do we go if we feel weak in our faith? (Mark 9:24).
c) What is the ultimate end of those who refuse to believe God? (See Luke 12:42-46 and Revelation 21:8). Now, before you panic, all of us fall into unbelief at one time or another. The testing of our faith is something that we come up against over and over again (James 1:2-4). These passages refer to people who have never taken the first step of belief and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord (John 6:28-29 and Acts 16:30-31).
d) Girls, carefully consider Genesis 18:12-13, 15:
i) Sarah assumed that she was out of God’s sight and hearing range. Big mistake! If nothing else, this should give us all a good lesson on eavesdropping!
(1) What does 1 Chronicles 28:9; Psalms 94:11; Psalms 139:1-2; Luke 8:17 and Luke 9:46-48 tell us about our inner most thoughts and God?
ii) Sarah based her unbelief on that fact that both she and Abraham were too old to for God do a mighty and life changing miracle and work in their lives!
(1) On whose strength was she relying upon? (See 1 Corinthians 1:25; 2 Corinthians 12:9 and Philippians 4:13).
(2) Do you ever feel too young, too old, too tired, too wounded, too anything to be used of God? Does God ever excuse us for failing to believe and move forward into His divine will for our lives? (Philippians 2:13).
(3) What was God’s response—Genesis 18:14. Jeremiah, the prophet, realized this truth—Jeremiah 32:17-22; Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus know this truth to be true—Luke 1:37 and Jesus, God’s own Son gives confirmation to this truth—Matthew 19:26.
6) You have to sympathize with Abraham and Sarah. God first made this promise when Abraham was 75 and Sarah was 65. Even then, this promise would have been a stretch of their faith. Now, here they are 25 years later, 99 and 89 years of age! The probability of this becoming a reality was, by all human reasoning, way beyond their wildest imagination—no wonder they laughed!
a) What do you think God may have been trying to teach Abraham and Sarah? (See Isaiah 43:10-13; Matthew 19:26 and Ephesians 3:20-21.)
b) How do you respond to the impossibilities in your life?
7) Okay, this is going to ruffle some tail feathers—in Genesis 18:12, how does Sarah refer to her husband, Abraham?
a) Here we see clearly defined roles as ordained by God. Abraham’s authority (or head) is Christ, Sarah’s head, or her covering is her husband and the head of Christ is God (1 Corinthians 11:3).
b) Scripture tells us that if we are truly spiritual seeds of Abraham and Sarah, then we do will as Sarah did (1 Peter 3:5-7). Before you start jumping up and down, read the following passages carefully and consider the charges given to husbands and wives!
i) Make separate lists of the requirements of both husbands and wives toward one another (1 Peter 3:5-7; Ephesians 5:23-33; Colossians 3:18-19; and Titus 2:4-5)
ii) What is the warning given for disobedience? (1 Peter 3:7). To whom is this directed? Were you able to spot a warning for wives? Why do you suppose that is so?
Genesis 21:1-7
Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.
Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.
1) The old hymn says, “Great is thy faithfulness!” God’s faithfulness—it can be counted upon! God spoke and it was so (this is repeated six times in the first chapter of Genesis alone)!
2) How was Sarah’s laughter different after the birth of Isaac?
a) You know, every time I read this account, I actually do laugh with Sarah. Our God is so good! Here she was 90 years old and nursing God’s promised child. Don’t you just know she was beside herself! Isaac--God’s promised miracle and blessing. Really, we probably should be shouting hallelujahs!
3) What was it that Abraham and Sarah were looking at from a distance? What was the promise they were welcoming? (Galatians 3:16).
4) Unless our Lord comes during our lifetime (Please, God!), we too will join the faithful ones who died without receiving what God has promised in the physical realm. But, know that we shall see our Savior face to face—in our own flesh and with our own eyes!
a) What keeps us holding on? The same thing that kept Abraham and Sarah going—faith (Hebrews 11:1)! Hebrews 11:13 said they considered themselves foreigners and nomads on the earth. You have to read a little further to grasp what this really means—read on down to verse 16. We have to ever keep before us our heavenly home—the home God has prepared us and the home where He is waiting for us to join Him or to bring us unto Himself!