The Necessity of Barrenness: Part One of the Barren Womb Series – Sarah

Gal. 4:28 Now brethren we as Isaac was, are the children of promise. Ishmael and Isaac represent two covenants, a covenant of the flesh (the natural) and a covenant that is spiritual. (Gal 4:23, 24) But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Abraham had two sons by two different women – one his wife and one a slave. A son of the flesh – Ishmael and a son of promise Isaac. When Abraham took Sarah to be his wife she was barren. (Gen 11:30). But God promised Abraham that though he was childless, he would be the father of many nations and through him the world would be blessed. However, Abraham and Sarah could not fully grasp this. They were both beyond the age of reproduction. Abraham was seventy-five years old when he was commanded of God to leave his home and Sarah was 65. Abraham, however, believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness (Gen 15.6). But the challenge would be in the waiting.

Ten years passed, both Abraham and Sarah aged far beyond child-bearing.  They would however, learn a lesson in faith and patience (Heb 6:12).  Sarah came up with a plan to solve the problem themselves; the slave Hagar would be the surrogate. The plan seemed logical and may have worked, but God had made a promise.  God never needs human ingenuity to fulfill His promise.  God only needed the certainty that Sarah’s womb was barren and incapable of bearing a child.

The plan was flawed, Hagar conceived and resented Sarah. In turn, Sarah treated her badly and Hagar ran into the wilderness pregnant. God sent her back and saved her from death. He told her that her son would father a nation. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael. But this was not the child of promise. The bible says that the Lord visited Sarah.  When Sarah was 90 years old, she gave birth to Isaac, the child of promise (Gen 21:2).  The two sons grew and Ishmael began to pick on his brother Isaac. Sarah became angry and told Abraham that the child and mother must leave. The bondwoman’s child would not inherit with their son. Abraham grieved over this, but God comforted him (Gen 21 9- 13). God assured Abraham that the child and Hagar would be all right. Once again Hagar and her son were in the wilderness and soon without water.  God provided them a well in the desert, where he reaffirmed the promise concerning her son.  

 All of this happened because Abraham and Sarah did not understand the necessity of barrenness; As a result, Isaac and Ishmael are seeds of conflict to this day. Abraham was wealthy and had hundreds of men. He could have found a place for the child and mother among his tents. But there were not two heirs. The child of the slave woman could not dwell with the child of promise. The son of Abraham’s wife represented the promise, as well as the order of God. Through the child of promise, God would restore his relationship with man. The promise came without human intervention, because God made the promise.

 What is your promise? Whatever it is you must become barren, incapable of producing it yourself. To be barren is to be empty. You must be empty of self. God is still looking for a barren womb to work a miracle in. Barrenness is necessary, a place of helplessness where we are empty of our own will. This is when God performs miracles.