The story of Sarah is an interesting example of submission. Remember when she was Sarai? Genesis 12 says:
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, "The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me."
"Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?"
"I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered.
Genesis 16:1-8
What happened?
Sarai’s lack of faith in God caused her to send Hagar into Abram creating a child that started a family feud that would cause wars between two nations for generations to come. The pain that the child caused Sarai for years—even after the birth of her own child late in life was—excruciating. It caused her to mistreat her servant. It caused her jealousy and envy. Truly this was not Sarai’s finest hour. But God used these circumstances to change Sarai.
So great was the change in Sarai’s life that it warrants her mention in I Peter. Two times, Sarai/Sarah had to follow her husband Abram into foreign lands and protected him by pretending to be his sister instead of his wife. She was taken into the palaces of kings (Genesis 12 and 20) as their royal wife because she supported Abram’s lies and God was not happy! She submitted to living Abram's lie and God protected her while He worked the truth into Abram.
By the time she had to participate in this lie for the second time, Sarah was still attractive at age 90. As Sarai yielded to God and to Abram, she was truly changed. God blessed her with a new name, Sarah; a transformed husband, Abraham; and with a pregnancy. She became Isaac’s mother in her old age. As the first apostles celebrated Jesus, Sarah gets mentioned because generations later, her humble service resulted in the lineage of Jesus. Hers is a worst case scenario. Her story makes me feel so much better about mine!
So can we, as believers married to unbelievers emulate Sarah? Can we endure the issues our husbands bring into our households? Is it possible that those issues will transform us? Transform our husbands? Is it worth the risk?
