"For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear." - 1 Peter 3:5-6
I wonder how much I do out of fear. Fear that I'm good enough, too nerdy, or that time is running out. When I think of Sarah, the first thing that comes to mind is her big mess up in Genesis 16 where she gives her slave Hagar to Abraham as his mistress and Ishmael is born.
Yet I'm supposed to be her daughter?
But Peter has a point, Sarah in most of her life submitted to Abraham and followed him around the middle of no where separated from her family, because he said God said so. That takes a lot of faith.
But in Genesis 16, Sarah freaked out and gave way to fear. She looked at her circumstances and saw she was old, her body wasn't working so she was ashamed, maybe it's her fault that God hasn't fulfilled his promise to Abraham. So she acts out of fear and changes the course of the world.
As a single woman who feels called to ministry and family, I can identify with Sarah feeling out of control of her life and not knowing what she's supposed to do to make it hapen. I'm graduating in the next year, so it's to want to know what do I do next. In fear it's easy to say, "I know where you want me to go God, GIVE me the map and let me make it happen!"
The apostle Peter tells us not to freak out. If we learn from Sarah's mistake we become daughters of the promise that God eventually fulfilled. The inheritance is still coming, and God's timing is best.
