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Genesis 16:2 – Did God Cause Sarah’s Barrenness?
On Genesis 16:2, “Though God is often the last place to look in times of success, He is the first place to look when casting blame” (Nathan Ward, The Growth of the Seed, Notes on the Book of Genesis, p. 178). Let me add to this that Christians would rather blame God and question his fairness, than to believe Satan is alive and well causing disruption in people’s lives. Are more afraid of Satan’s activity than of our blasphemy? Let me add one other thought, which is even if God is the cause of some painful times in our lives, He either might be disciplining us for our own good because of some sin; or else toughing us up for some later work. Basically, when it comes to suffering, pain, and trouble; God is the first to be blamed, Satan is last, and we usually put ourselves somewhere in the distant middle, far away from responsibility and closer to the Devil.
Personally, I believe God did cause Sarah’s barrenness. What Sarah could not see was God was using her and Abraham to teach about death and resurrection, the virgin birth and justification by faith (Romans 4). When she has a child at age 90, do you think her joy would have been increased exponentially than if she had the child at age 20? As Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me” (Genesis 21:6 (HCSB).
In the end, we will laugh ourselves even more if we allow ourselves to be used by God for what He wants; than if we use God to try and get what we want. The greatest laughter comes after the greatest pain.
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