Arthur W. Pink
Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. —Hebrews 11:11
It was “through faith” that Sarah “received strength,” and it was also “through faith” that she was now “delivered of a child.” It is the constancy and perseverance of her faith that is here intimated. There was no abortion, no miscarriage; she trusted God right through unto the end. This brings before us a subject upon which very little is written these days: the duty and privilege of Christian women counting upon God for a safe issue in the most trying and critical season in their lives. Faith is to be exercised not only in acts of worship, but also in the ordinary offices of our daily affairs. We are to eat and drink in faith, work and sleep in faith; and the Christian wife should be delivered of her child by faith. The danger is great, and if in any extremity there is need of faith, much more so where life itself is involved. Let us seek to condense from the helpful comments of the Puritan Thomas Manton.
First, we must be sensible what need we have to exercise faith in this case, that we may not run upon danger blindfolded; and if we escape, then to think our deliverance a mere chance. Rachel died in this case; so also did the wife of Phineas (1 Sam. 4:19–20): a great hazard is run, and therefore you must be sensible of it. The more difficulty and danger be apprehended, the better the opportunity for the exercise of faith (cf. 2 Chron. 20:12; 2 Cor. 1:9). Second, because the sorrows of travail are a monument of God’s displeasure against sin (Gen. 3:16), therefore this must put you the more earnestly to seek an interest in Christ that you may have remedy against sin. Third, meditate upon the promise of 1 Timothy 2:15, which is made good eternally or temporally as God sees fit. Fourth, the faith you exercise must be the glorifying of His power and submitting to His will. This expresses the kind of faith that is proper to all temporal mercies: “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst save me”—is sufficient to ease the heart of a great deal of trouble and perplexing fear.
“And was delivered of a child.” As we have pointed out in the last paragraph, this clause is added to show the continuance of Sarah’s faith and the blessing of God upon her. True faith not only appropriates His promise, but continues resting on the same until that which is believed be actually accomplished. The principle of this is enunciated in Hebrews 3:14 and 10:35. “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end”; “Cast not away therefore your confidence.” It is at this point so many fail. They endeavor to lay hold of a divine promise, but in the interval of testing let go of it. This is why Christ said, “If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this,” etc. Matthew 21:21—“doubt not,” not only at the moment of pleading the promise, but during the time you are awaiting its fulfillment. Hence also, unto “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart” is added “and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Prov. 3:5).
“When she was past age.” This clause is added so as to heighten the miracle that God so graciously wrought in response to Sarah’s faith. It magnifies the glory of His power. It is recorded for our encouragement. It shows us that no difficulty or hindrance should cause a disbelief of the promise. God is not tied down to the order of nature, nor limited by any secondary causes. He will turn nature upside down rather than not be as good as His word. He has brought water out of a rock, made iron to float (2 Kings 6:6), sustained two million people in a howling wilderness. These things should arouse the Christian to wait upon God with full confidence in the face of the utmost emergency. Yea, the greater the impediments that confront us, faith should be increased. The trustful heart says, “Here is a fit occasion for faith; now that all creature-streams have run dry is a grand opportunity for counting on God to show Himself strong on my behalf. What cannot He do! He made a woman of ninety to bear a child—a thing quite contrary to nature—so I may surely expect Him to work wonders for me too.”
“Because she judged him faithful who had promised.” Here is the secret of the whole thing! Here was the ground of Sarah’s confidence, the foundation on which faith rested. She did not look at God’s promises through the mist of interposing obstacles, but she viewed the difficulties and hindrances through the clear light of God’s promises. The act that is here ascribed unto Sarah is that she “judged ” or reckoned, reputed and esteemed, God to be faithful. She was assured that He would make good His word on which He had caused her to hope. God had spoken; Sarah had heard. In spite of all that seemed to make it impossible that the promise should be fulfilled in her case, she steadfastly believed. Rightly did Luther say, “If you would trust God, you must learn to crucify the question ‘How?’” “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it” (1 Thess. 5:24): this is sufficient for the heart to rest upon; faith will cheerfully leave it with Omniscience as to how the promise will be made good to us.
“Because she judged him faithful who had promised.” Let it be carefully noted that Sarah’s faith went beyond the promise. While her mind dwelt upon the thing promised, it seemed unto her altogether incredible; but when she took her thoughts off all secondary causes and fixed them on God Himself, then the difficulties no longer disturbed her: her heart was at rest in God. She knew that God could be depended upon: He is “faithful”—able, willing, sure to perform His word! Sarah looked beyond the promise to the Promiser; and as she did so, all doubting was stilled. She rested with full confidence on the immutability of Him that cannot lie, knowing that where divine veracity is engaged, omnipotence will make it good. It is by believing meditations upon the character of God that faith is fed and strengthened to expect the blessing, despite all apparent difficulties and supposed impossibilities. It is the heart’s contemplation of the perfections of God that causes faith to prevail. As this is of such vital practical importance, let us devote another paragraph to enlarging thereon.
To fix our minds on the things promised, to have an assured expectation of the enjoyment of them, without the heart first resting upon the veracity, immutability, and omnipotence of God, is but a deceiving imagination. Rightly did John Owen point out, “The formal object of faith in the divine promises is not the things promised in the first place, but God Himself in His essential excellencies of truth or faithfulness and power.” Nevertheless, the divine perfections do not, of themselves, work faith in us; it is only as the heart believingly ponders the divine attributes that we shall “judge” or conclude Him faithful that has promised. It is the man whose mind is stayed upon God Himself, who is kept in “perfect peace” (Isa. 26:3): that is, he who joyfully contemplates who and what God is that will be preserved from doubting and wavering while waiting the fulfillment of the promise. As it was with Sarah, so it is with us: every promise of God has tacitly annexed to it this consideration, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:14).
But let our final thought be upon the rich recompense whereby God rewarded the faith of Sarah. The opening “Therefore” of verse 12 points the blessed consequence of her relying upon the faithfulness of God in the face of the utmost natural discouragements. From her faith there issued Isaac, and from him, ultimately, Christ Himself. And this is recorded for our instruction. Who can estimate the fruits of faith? Who can tell how many lives may be affected for good, even in generations yet to come, through your faith and my faith today! Oh, how the thought of this should stir us up to cry more earnestly, “Lord, increase our faith” to the praise of the glory of Thy grace. Amen.
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Arthur W. Pink (1886–1952) was a prolific author. This article is taken from Studies in the Scriptures, available from Chapel Library.
Courtesy of The Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth, used with permission.