“Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.” – Genesis 16: 1-2
Do you remember all of that talk about “there’s more to a woman than her womb?” Well, that may have sounded good to Oprah, but Sarah wasn’t buying it. She was barren and she didn’t like it. In fact, she hated it. It could be that she wanted a child more to fulfill Abraham than for her own fulfillment.
Abraham didn’t throw it up in her face. He didn’t berate her. He didn’t love her any less. However, Sarah knew that Abraham was like many, if not most, men. They too want a child, a son to carry on the family name and to keep themselves alive for generations. In Genesis 15: 1-3, during a vision, Abraham pours out his heart to God on the matter. He asks God for a son to pass his inheritance to since, at that time, the only male in his house was his servant, Eliezer. Sarah may not have been inside her husband’s head. Still, she knew enough about her husband to know what was in his heart. So, she decided to do something about it.
She offered her Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, to Abraham to be his wife and to have a child for her (Sarah) through her (Hagar). That’s right. Sarah was going to use Hagar as a surrogate to present Abraham with a child on her behalf. Can’t you see disaster written all over this? Yep and that is exactly what it turned out to be because…
(1). Sarah took the place of God. The fact that she could not bear a child did not give her the right to step in the place of God. If indeed, it had been the Lord who “restrained her from bearing,” it would also have to be the Lord who would open her womb and enable her to give birth. God does not want our help. He wants our patience and obedience.
(2). She never considered or consulted Abraham or Hagar. She basically told them what was going to happen and they went along. Abraham cooperated because he, too, thought it would be a quick way to realize God’s promise and because Hagar was a fine African sister on top of that! This quick fix, though, had negative consequences for both Abraham and Hagar. It put him in the middle of two women and a son. Then, it caused Hagar to be left out to dry. Our quick fixes may fix one problem, but they are prone to create many more. When God fixes a thing, it is fixed all the way around.
(3). Sarah never directly received the promise that she would have a child. The promise that his seed would be as numerous as the sands on the sea was given directly to Abraham. Even later, when God was finally about to bring the promise to past, He told Abraham about it and Sarah only overheard it while standing in the tent door. (Genesis 18: 10) This means that while she was involved in the promise and would be a major player in the promise, she only had second hand knowledge of it. One way to avoid disaster is to wait until God makes it plain to you!