Sarah
God chooses to bless and celebrate some rather unlikely people - a truth for which we should all be glad. Sarah could be cruel, jealous and hotheaded. She was surely bruised by some mistakes that she and Abraham made. She concocted the terrible plan involving Hagar, and then tried to dump all the blame squarely on her husband, even though it was a way forward that she suggested. She initially responded to God’s promise with a derisory laugh - and then tried to deny that had she had reacted that way. She was flawed and imperfect, to say the least. But then we find her listed in the Hebrews hall of fame, alongside some other unexpected characters, like Samson, famous for his disastrous dalliances. The prophet Isaiah celebrates her too (Isa 51:1-2).
Faith is always imperfect. We can be boldly trusting God one moment, and then wonder if He is even there the next. We need to be more open about our struggles with doubt, not to encourage doubt, but to let fellow strugglers know that they are not alone. At times I have found this difficult to do as a Christian leader, because confessing struggles with doubt can feel like I’m proverbially letting the side down. But I think that being an example is not the same as projecting a false image, so I am going to keep on sharing with vulnerability. Yet let’s also know that in our imperfections, our foibles, our sins, and our feeble attempts at believing, we too are loved by God and celebrated by Him.