4. GOD’S POWER – DEFYING THE CULTURAL NORM

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What is the CULTURAL NORM does not equate to IMPOSSIBILITY with God. That is, not because something doesn’t ever usually happen in a particular time or culture, does it mean that it can never happen or more importantly, that God cannot do it.

For example, in Abraham’s time, it was apparently unheard of, for an old man to be able to impregnate his wife and for an old woman to be able to conceive and bring forth a child.

In Genesis 12, when Abraham (who was then called Abram), yet had no children, God told him that he would make of him a great nation and that in him, all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:2-3). He told him to leave his country and his kindred (family), so that he God, could take him to a land that he would show him.

Verse 4 of Genesis 12 states that Abram departed, in obedience and that at this point in time, he was SEVENTY FIVE years of age. Some years later though, the Lord’s promise having not yet materialized and Abram and his wife being even older in age but still without a child, Abram became concerned. He probably saw his vitality fading with each passing day, yet, he and his wife still had no children. He was finding it difficult, apparently, to come to terms with God’s promise, that he would make of him a great nation, when in reality, things remained unchanged. He was getting older and weaker, his wife Sarai was getting older and weaker and to date, she was still barren.

The Bible states in Genesis 15:2-3:

“And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.”

In response, God again confirmed his promise to Abram, letting him know that his steward Eliezer would not be the one to reap his inheritance. God told him: “This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out out thine own bowels shall be thine heir.”

The Bible then states of God in verses 5-6:

“And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

In faith, Abram therefore believed what God had told him at that point. However, when more time seemingly elapsed and Sarai (who was later renamed Sarah) was still unable to conceive, Sarai seemingly started to panic. She doubted that she would ever be able to bear. In desperation, she therefore hatched a plan, which to her mind, seemed good. She seemingly reasoned that God must have meant that Abram would have a child by some other woman, not her.

Genesis 16:1-4 states:

“Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived…”

It appears therefore that, although God had given Abram a promise, confirmed that he would have a son and that he would make of him a great nation, given the amount of time that had lapsed and their respective ages, Sarai came to the conclusion that maybe God intended Abram to have a child through another woman, given that she remained barren. She apparently convinced Abram of this, as the Bible states that Abram gave in to what Sarai told him to do.

In keeping with Sarai’s plan, Hagar conceived and had a son for Abram called Ishmael but this was not at all the heir that God had promised Abram. For, it was the product of desperation, impatience and faithlessness on the part of Sarai and Abram.

That is, God gave Abram a promise, intended to fulfill it through Abram’s wife Sarai, yet Sarai and Abram had taken matters into their own hands and because they found that God was taking too long and Sarai’s situation was too dire, they deviated from his plan.

Yet, God still intended to honour his promise.

When Abram was ninety nine years old, God appeared to him, changed his name to Abraham and told him that he had made him a father of many nations. He told him that he would make him exceeding fruitful and would make nations of him and that kings would come from his lineage.

At that point, Abram may have believed that God meant that he would do this through Ishmael, his son with Hagar. However, shockingly, God stated in Genesis 17:15-16:

“…As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.”

In response to this shocking news, the Bible states in verses 17-18:

“Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is AN HUNDRED YEARS OLD? and shall Sarah, that is NINETY YEARS OLD, bear?And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!”

Yet, given that the promise that God had initially given Abram was intended to be fulfilled by faith through Sarai, Abram’s wife and none else, the Lord maintained that what was borne through desperation and faithlessness (Ishmael), would not be the one with whom he would establish his covenant.

In verses 19-21, in response to Abram’s request that Ishmael be the one through whom God would establish his covenant, it states:

“And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.“

At a subsequent point in time, the Word of God states that the Lord appeared to Abraham and as he sat in the tent of the door, he saw three men, who (based on how the scriptures read) were angels sent by God. After reaching out to them with hospitality, the Word of God states in Genesis 18:9-15:

“And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.

And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.”

After everything that Sarah had been through, the disappointment of having seen the years roll on by, her age increase, not being able to conceive and her desperate attempt to solve the problem by having her husband marry and then impregnate her maid Hagar, she could not believe that the Lord was still making a promise that Abraham would have a son by her!

After all, this was the fourth time that she was hearing about it and yet, it had not come to fruition. For, when Abram was seventy-five years old and left his father’s house, it was in pursuance of the promise that God had made him, that he would make of him a great nation (Genesis 12:2). Some years later, when Abram expressed concern because he was still childless, God again promised him that he would have a son from his own bowels (Genesis 15:4). Then, after Ishmael was born, God again made a promise that he would make Abram a father of many nations, telling him specifically, that Sarai would bear him the son in whom he would establish his covenant (Genesis 17:5, 15-16). Now, on this fourth occasion, when she was even older, well stricken in age and not even having her monthly period anymore (Genesis 18:11), Sarah was again hearing, that she would have a son (Genesis 18:10).

Seemingly, Sarah had grown tired of hearing the promise and waiting on the promise but not seeing it materialize. She doubted, given that she was now very old and her monthlies no longer even coming, that this would ever happen and so she laughed at what had been said. It seemed so incredulous!

She saw her old age and that of her husband as being a barrier, something that rendered what had been said, as impossible. For, this was something culturally unheard of! In other words, it was not the norm for a man at the age of close to one hundred and his wife at about ninety or close to ninety, to be able to conceive a child (especially when the woman no longer saw her period) and to have strength to deliver a child!

God was promising to do something that was not the cultural norm, completely unheard of in those times by anyone and therefore, Sarai rendered it an impossibility. In unbelief, she laughed.

She made the mistake in confusing what was considered normal in that time and culture, as the determinant of what could or could not be done. That is, given that in her time, couples were not generally able to have children at the ages of she and her husband, she concluded that this was impossible.

But was it?

Who is the one that gives conception? Who is the one that created mankind?

Sarah (and even Abram before he had married Hagar and had Ishmael, when he wondered when and how he would have a child, him being so old), seemingly forgot something. They seemed to have forgotten that, although God usually withheld his power in those times by putting caps and cut off points on when people could conceive and bare, so that it was unheard of that a couple so old as close to a century could have a child, the fact remained that HIS POWER HAD NOT WANED. That is, God did not generally permit people of a certain age to have children yes but this did not mean that he could not still decide at any point, to intervene to bring such a miracle to pass.

Ironically, prior to Hagar being given to Abram and bearing Ishmael, Sarai and Abram found it concerning that they were so old and without a child, them taking the view that at that age, their chances of having a child together were slim, if not nil. However, although they found Abram being close to ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD and Sarai being about NINETY YEARS OLD and them childless, to be alarming, they seemingly forgot that the same God that existed in their time, existed in the time of old. The same God that was alive and well in their time was the very same God who existed, for example, in the time of their ancestors, like Cainan and Mahalaleel and Jared and Enoch.

What does scripture say about these men who lived before Abram and Sarai’s time and what relevance does it have to Abram and Sarai’s situation?

Well, it states in Genesis 5:3-23, from Adam’s time to Enoch’s, that:

“And Adam lived AN HUNDRED AND THIRTY years, AND BEGAT A SON in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth:And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS: AND HE BEGAT SONS AND DAUGHTERS: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

And Seth lived AN HUNDRED AND FIVE YEARS, AND BEGAT ENOS: And Seth lived after he begat Enos EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVEN YEARS, AND BEGAT SONS AND DAUGHTERS:And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

And Enos lived NINETY YEARS, AND BEGAT CAINAN:And Enos lived after he begat Cainan EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN YEARS, AND BEGAT SONS AND DAUGHTERS:And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.

And Cainan lived SEVENTY YEARS AND BEGAT MAHALALEEL: And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel EIGHT HUNDRED AND FORTY YEARS, AND BEGAT SONS AND DAUGHTERS:And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.

And Mahalaleel lived SIXTY AND FIVE YEARS, AND BEGAT JARED:And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared EIGHT HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS, AND BEGAT SONS AND DAUGHTERS: And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.

And Jared lived AN HUNDRED SIXTY AND TWO YEARS, AND HE BEGAT ENOCH:And Jared lived after he begat Enoch EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS, AND BEGAT SONS AND DAUGHTERS:And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.

And Enoch lived SIXTY AND FIVE YEARS, AND BEGAT METHUSELAH: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah THREE HUNDRED YEARS, AND BEGAT SONS AND DAUGHTERS:And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years…”

What is striking in this passage that we just read is this: It was the norm back then, for Abram and Sarai’s ancestors to have children younger than Abram’s NINETY-NINE YEARS of age, around Abram’s NINETY-NINE YEARS of age and beyond Abram’s NINETY-NINE YEARS of age, seemingly by even hundreds of years! That is, it was the norm culturally back then and before Abram’s time, for people to have children when they were HUNDREDS OF YEARS OLD!

It was not considered strange back then or something that was impossible but the norm. None of those men back then therefore, would have found it concerning when they were close to ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF AGE or had even passed it, as to when they would be able to have children and if too much time had passed to make this possible. For, through God’s power, men were allowed to live much longer life spans and to have children even when they were several centuries old!

Sarai and Abram apparently forgot this fact, given the times that they lived in. They seemingly equated what had become the cultural norm in their time with what was possible or impossible.

Yet, the same God that enabled their ancestors to bear and bring forth children at one hundred plus years old and in many cases, at several hundreds of years old was the same God that existed in their time. This meant, that despite it being completely unheard of in their time, God was still able to effortlessly allow them to have a child at their age, although Abram was close to one hundred and Sarai in her nineties.

This was not something hard for God to do. This was not something unprecedented, meaning never done before. This was something that he had done and enabled, time and time and time again, in the time that the ancestors of Abram and Sarai lived. No wonder God asked, after Sarah laughed in unbelief, at the idea that she could conceive at ninety years of age: “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?”

It was as if the Lord was saying, if you check your history, you would see that I have done this, time and time again. Although I stopped doing it, does not mean that I can’t do it again, at any point and with any couple, that I see fit. And even if there was no historical record of this ever having been done by me, I am God. Is there any thing too hard for me?

Indeed, if one were to have rolled out on a map, the people who lived before Abram and Sarai’s time and the people who lived in Abram and Sarai’s time, along with the things they did and the children they had and at what age, it would have become obvious, that Abram and Sarai’s concern about their age was much ado about nothing.

For, on the one hand, someone looking at the map, would have seen clearly, that in the time of Jared and Enoch and Cainan and Mahalaleel and other people in their time, it was considered perfectly normal to have children after one hundred years of age and even at the point of eight hundred years of age and older!

Yet, in looking at the map, one would have seen Abram and Sarai, at a later point in time, concerned that they might never have children together or at all because at ninety years and ninety-something to one hundred years of age, they were thinking, that they were too old. Ha!

Needless to say, God keeps his word and in the time appointed, he allowed Sarah to conceive by Abraham (although she had always been barren and had stopped having her period) and he gave her strength to deliver the child safely.

Genesis 21:1-2;5-7 states:

“And the Lord visited Sarah AS HE HAD SAID, and the Lord did unto Sarah AS HE HAD SPOKEN. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him…And Abraham was AN HUNDRED YEARS OLD, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.”

Three things were therefore against Sarah but God defied every one. First of all, she was barren. She had always been barren, even when she was young and her monthlies had existed. Secondly, she was now very old and thirdly, her monthlies (which are considered necessary for conception) had stopped flowing.

We know this last fact as the Word of God states that it had ceased to be with her after the manner of women.

God therefore did what was not culturally the norm and unheard of in the time of Abraham and Sarah, resulting in people being shocked at the occurrence.

It reminds us today, as Christians, that, even if something rarely ever occurs or is completely unheard of in the time that we live, given that God is an all-powerful God, he can decide to intervene in our life circumstances and still do it anyway.

For example, in our time, the doctors tell us that once a woman crosses thirty years of age, that her biological clock ticks louder, as she becomes less fertile with age. In fact, once a woman crosses thirty five or worse yet, forty, society writes her off as most likely never ever going to be able to bear a child again, as they think her to be too old. They think that her chances are slim and virtually non-existent.

Yet, God could still choose to intervene (as he does on some rare occasions) and cause a couple in their late thirties and even forties, to conceive and bare not just a child but children. He can even do this, after many years of barrenness. For, what is the cultural norm does not equate to impossibility with God.

If we look at the New Testament, God illustrated this again (even as he did with Abraham and Sarah who lived in a much earlier time), with the couple Elisabeth and Zacharias. Many years later, in the New Testament, Luke 1 tells us of the married couple Elisabeth and Zacharias:

“And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.”

The Bible does not give their age but in stating that they were well stricken in years, it means that they were very old, in terms of what was considered to be very old in their time. They were at a point where it was simply unheard of, for people at their age, being able to conceive and bare a child.

Yet, God chose to intervene again, to topple and overthrow what was considered then to be the cultural norm and to show, that at any time, he could make anything happen.

In verse 13, an angel of the Lord who had appeared to Zacharias, told him that his prayer had been heard and that his wife Elisabeth would bear him a son and that his name would be called John. Yet, Zacharias, looking at the cultural norm and that it was completely unheard of in his time, for him and his wife, being such old people, to be able to have a child, doubted.

Luke 1:18-20 states:

“And Zacharias said unto the angel, whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these glad tidings. And behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.”

Indeed because God never lies, his promise came to pass. Due to his unbelief at God’s promise which was not the norm culturally, Zacharias became instantly dumb. Elisabeth subsequently conceived and bare a son and Zacharias only regained his speech after the child was born and he was called upon to name him (Luke 1:5-64).

CONCLUSION

From the examples with Abraham and Sarah (formerly Abram and Sarai) and Zacharias and Elisabeth, some of the lessons that can be drawn are these:

LESSON 1

Not because something seems to be culturally abnormal or completely unheard of in a particular time, does it mean that it is impossible for God to do or difficult. Irrespective of the time, God’s power knows no limits.

LESSON 2

Even if in a particular time, God has chosen to generally withhold some of his power and to put caps on, so that mankind is limited, in that certain things like pregnancy, only usually take place by a certain time, at any point in time, STILL, God could decide to intervene and through HIS power, allow to take place, what does not normally happen.

LESSON 3

When God knows that he plans to step in at his set time, to topple people’s expectations and to defy the cultural norm, it seems that he usually likes to first give a promise. He doesn’t have to do this as he is God and can do as he pleases but there is a pattern in the scriptures of him first planting the promise, allowing the seed of faith to germinate and then bringing what he said he would do, to pass. He did it with Abraham and he did it with Zacharias. He even did it with Manoah’s wife in Judges 13, who was also barren, sending his angel to let her know in advance, that “Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.” (Judges 13:3)

LESSON 4

Cultural norm is no match for the power and promise of God. Whenever God gives a promise, that he is going to do something, it matters not how many years have passed or how the circumstances look or what people think or if they’ve written it off as impossible, due to the lapse of time. A lapse in time does not mean that God does not intend to honour his promise or has changed his mind. No matter how long it takes to come to fruition and how the years seem to be rolling by, by the grace of almighty God, it surely will.

It doesn’t even matter if you, like Sarah and Zacharias, have your moments of doubt because in the time that you live, what God proposes to do is not the cultural norm.

God’s promise is a SURE promise. It SHALL come to pass in HIS timing and because it is not the cultural norm in the time that you live in, people will KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt, that it was HE that did it, when he does it. In this way, when God does what he does, it will ultimately redound to HIS honour and glory. For, he would have shown, that his power trumps all, even the cultural norm and that his strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

(Written on 6th November, 2021)

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