Sarai's unbelief, God's patience

QT for today has been interesting. Was reading on Genesis and today the QT was talking about Sarai's response to the Three strangers' promise and her unbelief of the promise. Essentially, the Three strangers ( supernatural beings... hinted to be the pre-incarnated Jesus) told Abraham that he will have a child next year. Sarai, being a woman of the Orientals could only listen to the conversation in the tent. When she heard of the promise, she laughed. She laughed not because she was happy but rather it was because of her unbelief. She did not believe that it will come true because her husband was old and she was past the age of child-bearing. The three strangers then asked her why she is laughing. Her reply was that she did not laugh. The strangers then pointed out that she did.

There are a few lessons that I have learned from this QT passage. The first being the fact that I was similar to Sarai when it comes to unbelief. In fact I think she is better in this area than I am. Sarai have many good reasons for her unbelief. She was old and barren (90 plus, impossible to bear any child). Her husband was old (at least ard a 100). God has promised Abraham many times before but up till now have not fulfill it etc. It was rather logical for her to lose faith and laugh at what the strangers said. The strangers gave her the chance to change her unbelieving heart. She used her opportunity instead to lie. God being a righteous God and a patient one, pointed out her sin. However, even though she sinned, God still fulfill the promise of child bearing.

Many times throughout my Christian walk, I have been filled with unbelief. Unbelief whether I could fit into CYYAM, unbelief about whether God is really guiding me through army and my study life etc. Really thank God that He has been patient with me and guiding me throughout my journey of life even when i was filled with unbelief. He also showed me time and time again that He indeed been guiding me through my life. There are really quite a number of things that He has shown me that He has been guiding my life that it is really hard to list it down here one by one. Well, through all the experience, I have been growing closer to the Lord. However, does that me that I will not be faced with unbelief? I think not. There are still small things that I know that if I give up, and filled it with stuff like prayer and reading more of His word, I will gain much more than what I have been doing now. Well, those little stuff are like (reading too many mangas, playing too much comp, wasting my time away by staring at the comp screen etc.) Been trying to improve on it. I guess there is still much improvement. Why? That is because I it is so entrenched in my lifestyle that though I know that it is better for me to give up I have difficulty really doing so. Having the knowledge that it is better doesn't mean that you will follow up by really giving up. I think this is due to my unbelief of the promise of God that He will give me better stuff if I give it up to spend more time with Him. Guess I have much to work on. Really thank God that he reveal to me time and time again about my mistakes.

The second thing that I am reminded of from this QT is that God will point out the mistakes whenever you make it. It may be through the people around you esp when you are hardened in sin that you cannot heard the Holy Spirit's prompting or through the Holy Spirit's guidance. One can continue to sin after that or repent and turn towards God. In Sarai's case, she sinned further after God asked her. Many times we are just like her. God prompt us because He loved us. However, due to our unfaithfulness, we still continue to sin in that area or sin in other areas to cover up. David sinned against God in terms of adultery. Instead of repenting, he hardened his heart and murdered the husband through the means of the enemy's sword. If our spiritual seniors are prone to such errors, then it is very likely that we will also commit such errors. Have I made such errors? Definitely. However, praise be to God. He shown me where I was wrong and help me through such errors. Well, one thing that we can be sure of if God help us through such things is that God is with us and is helping us, and that we are also responding to Him. If we do not respond to Him, we will slowly fall away. Therefore, if people point out our mistakes or God use the Holy Spirit to prompt us, do not delay in responding to Him. It is God great mercy that He is faithful in our unfaithfulness. We can continue in such unfaithfulness or we can turn around and let God and God's people to help us through our difficulties. I can only say Praise God for His unending mercies and His faithfulness. Many times I have stumbled, but God has pulled me back from the pits of sin. May God continue to help us

We can continue to laugh at God in our unbelief of His promises, whether big or small or we can be like Abraham, though he failed time and time again in his unbelief (like having a child with Hagar), he grew up being closer to God and believe in the promises through his actions (like waiting for God to go through his sacrifice and also preparing to sacrifice Issac even though Issac is the son of promise, just because Abraham believe that God will provide). I am working towards giving up the stuff mentioned above because I believe that giving up such stuff is not actually giving up anything for God will bless us with more. I do still have my unbelief, so God please help me.

In all I can only say, To God be the Glory