Genesis 11:30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
The Stage for a Miracle
Winston Churchill once said, “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” Having recently read a biography about Churchill, I am convinced that he meant that quite literally. Arthur Balfour, a previous prime minister, once said that Winston Churchill’s history of World War I was an “autobiography disguised as a history of the universe.” That is exactly what the book of Genesis is, and what the whole Bible is. It is God’s biography of His working in the affairs of people, in the history of the universe. It’s good to remember that each of us is part of a much bigger story. While you might not always see the big picture, make no mistake that there is a God, He has a plan, and that you are part of a much bigger story.
Genesis 11 illustrates this as we are introduced to Abram and Sarai, later to be called Abraham and Sarah. The setting is just after the fall of Babel during the dispersion of people across the world. Verse 10 starts the genealogy of Shem that ends in the birth of Abram. The entire reason for this chapter is to introduce us to Abram and Sarah. The whole reason for introducing these two is because of God’s cosmic plan of sending His Son through their son to become our salvation.
What do you know about Abram here? Well, next to nothing. What you know, if you look it up, is that his name means “exalted father.” Here is an exalted father who wasn’t a father of any kind. What do we know of Sarai? Verse 30 says, “But Sarai was barren.” She had no children. We know nothing of her except what she did not have. Why does God take an entire chapter to give us a genealogy, the setting of the world, and then introduce us to two people by letting us know that he is an exalted father and she is barren? The reason is because it is the link between our weakness and God’s will.
In the following chapter, we find that God promises Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation, and this, of course, is not a story of Abraham but of God, God sending His Son through Abraham’s descendants. The lesson for us is that our weakness and God’s will set the stage for a miracle.
You may not always know God’s will or even the extent of your own weakness, but you can know that God has a plan that surpasses your weakness. There is a miracle in store. I don’t know what you may have in your future or what your challenges are today, but I do know that your weaknesses do not prohibit an all-powerful God from having His way in the world. It is a wonderful thing to live in submission to God knowing that God is more powerful and wiser than I, and that when I give myself to Him, He will show Himself through me.