1905 246 "Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised" (Heb. 11:11).
The energy or consistency of the public testimony is often found to be closely connected with, if not absolutely dependent upon, the strength and consistency of the testimony maintained in the household. One may be greatly helped or hindered by the influence which prevails there. History furnishes many examples, and it is not at all overlooked in scripture; for we find the frequent occurrence of the mother's name of the successive kings of Judah; not so with the rulers of the revolted ten tribes. In the New Testament the names of three women are before us in the very closest connection with the entrance into this world of the One who came for the truth of God in fulfilment of the promise made to the fathers. It was said of Timothy that from a child he had known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make wise unto salvation (2 Tim. 3:15); while the aged apostle was persuaded that God's Spirit had set His seal upon the faith and piety of Lois and Eunice, and that faith unfeigned dwelt in Timothy also. The faith which dwelt in those godly women had much to do with the formation and development of Timothy's character. God will acknowledge and use such things wherever they are found; for He is the giver of faith and grace, while a meek and quiet spirit is of great price in His sight.
There is nothing more clearly set before us in both Old and New Testament revelation with regard to the family, than that God holds the husband and father responsible for the conduct and order of the household. That which God saw in Abraham's household encouraged Him to make the revelation of coming judgment upon Sodom (Gen. 18:17-22); while the moral disorder in Lot's household counteracted his preaching to them (Gen. 19:14). It is a question here of fulfilment of the promise: God is ready to bless and to bless largely; but is the vessel ready to receive the blessing? By nature we have our hopes and fears, our desires and expectations, ambitions, etc; but inasmuch as self-enjoyment and exaltation is the end and ultimate object of all our inward exercise apart from grace, God has to make a complete clearance in the end of all that would interfere with His work of blessing. Empty vessels may be brought, and He will fill them out of His abundance. Clearance must precede blessing. Sometimes the flesh in us sees nothing desirable in that which God presents to faith, and the blessing is despised and perhaps bartered away as in the case of Esau, "a profane person." It is not of course a question of eternal salvation, but of undervaluing the place of privilege and honour in testimony for God upon. earth; it may lead as in his case to personal rejection at the end. Paul by bringing his body into subjection shut out such an alternative (1 Cor. 9:27). There might have been such an one among the Hebrew saints, as there may be now among Gentile Christians.
Sometimes, again, a religiously disposed mind appreciates the distinction which faith brings, and would make a personal sacrifice to get it, as Jacob. For the old nature can become religious and adapt itself outwardly to the ways of God. That which is seen afar off is agreeable to one's inclinations; and religious activity is set up to establish the vision (Dan. 11:14) or to bring about the blessing. But the effect is only to delay and obstruct real blessing; for God will not use it. Discipline, painful and humiliating at the time, is God's way of preserving and preparing the soul for the future blessing. It is not correct to speak of the power of either faith or prayer, although we often hear the expression to hear and believe when God speaks to us, to judge that He who has promised is faithful and able also to perform is faith. To be speaking continually to God about ourselves and each other is prayer, often involving the confession. of weakness as also of failure. Paul in the realisation and confession of weakness found strength come in (2 Cor. 12:10). "When I am weak, then I am strong": prayer and faith link us up with God Himself, to whom power belongs.
The Son of David was encouraged to build the temple of Jehovah by such a revelation in the midst of the weakness and indifference of the people of God. The Lord Jesus risen from the dead instructed the apostles to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they were indued with power from on high. Had they commenced their testimony without waiting for this, there would have been a breakdown; but the promise of the Father was fulfilled with the result that with great power gave the apostles witness." The Spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind is upon the servants of Christ. God's Spirit has come to stay with the saints and may be counted upon. His methods are a direct application of the written word making it living and powerful in our own hearts, increasing our spiritual apprehension, revealing Christ, leading out our heart in prayer, keeping us in dependence upon and subjection to Christ Jesus the Lord, and making us to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Abraham was "strong in faith" (Rom. 4:20), he was accustomed to have to do with God personally so that when under such a trial he did not waver. The fact that Sarah his wife shared his faith must have been a great comfort and help to him; it was an auxiliary blessing not to be despised. God is pleased to use such things for the comfort of our heart and deepening His work within us. So in the case of Gideon, he was sent of God on a midnight visit to the Midianites, that his hand should be strengthened (Judges 7). So Paul was lifted up by the coming or presence of Titus (2 Cor. 7).
There is not only God's work in one's own soul, but the blessing He brings by that which He has wrought in the heart of another. How different was it in Jacob's family, his own beloved wife corrupting the household by bringing in false gods! But for saints walking in obedience, loving each other in the truth is to be in the line of the Spirit's action, in the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, and grace and peace are multiplied. Sarah, no less than her husband, intelligently and reverently grasped the promise and waited patiently for its fulfilment. They were mutually helpers of each other's joy, but not without failure; for the flesh will never cease to assert itself while we are in the body. Yet our God is able to turn even our failure to account for His own glory and our spiritual profit; as the history of Hagar and Ishmael viewed in the light of divine interpretation (Gal. 4:21-23) abundantly illustrates. G.S.B.