I will keep my promise Sarah

I will keep my promise (Genesis 10-12)

Sarah was a beautiful woman. Such was her beauty that it caused Abraham, the Egyptians, the servants of the Pharaoh, and the Pharaoh himself to stop and consider the power of her beauty. (Genesis 12, 14-15)  In a time and place when women were renown more for their bloom than for their courage, she stands alone as a woman of God.  She is the first woman of the Bible to be spoken of as “a fair woman to look upon.” She is also the first to teach us about how the power of faith can deliver us.

            11  Through faith also Sara 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. (Hebrews 11:11)

God made a covenant with her husband and brother Abraham. (Abraham 1, Gen 17) Together in the prosperous city of Ur, in the country of Chaldea, they lived under the auspices of their socially connected and well-known family. But the trade that had brought prosperity had also weakened their family’s spiritual roots. Abraham’s father became converted to the Egyptian God Elkenah and tried to offer Abraham up for sacrifice.(Abraham 1:6) Hence the Lord’s admonition and warning for Abraham to “get out of thy country and away from they kindred.” (Genesis 12:1)

Abraham recommits himself to God and God covenants with him. He is promised a progeny that would number the sands of the sea. In return the God will use Abraham and Sarah to build his Kingdom of God on earth. It is through this line that Jesus Christ will be born. It is through this family that the Lord’s covenant people learn what it means to make and keep sacred covenants with their God.

The question to consider is weather or not Sarah is the other part of the equation?  Was this linage to come through Sarah or her maidservant Haggai?  Was the covenant with Abraham and Sarah or just Abraham? 

Sarah must have thought more than once:  “Surely the Lord was mistaken when he said Abraham and I, (Sarah) would have a great nation?" Abraham could have had his children through any woman.  Was Sarah alone the intended matriarch of Israel? She was after-all barren. How must she have felt? A promise made to her husband and she unable to fulfill it? What must she have thought about Abraham when he confided in her? And what of Abraham's feelings? Was Sarah, the woman he loved and made marital vows with to be the matriarch of this great nation? 

Sarah and Abraham are bound to one another through familial and social customs. Sara was the daughter of Terah’s (Abraham’s father) son Haran. When Haran dies in the famine that strikes the land, Terah (per custom) marries her mother and ensures his son’s families survival. Sara then becomes Abrams step-sister (Gen 20:12) and wife.  (Bible dictionary ..Terah) This makes her covenant with Abraham double binding, meaning she would have to answer to both family and society if she chooses to dishonor her vows or break her marital covenant.

It is interesting to understand that this is the first time that biblical record mentions a one to one covenant with God and man.  Even more interesting is the understanding that this covenant initially is between Abraham and God, but because it is a marital covenant, one must consider that Sarah stands as an equal part of it. But she was barren?

Coming into Egypt the Lord and Abraham knew she was barren. The Egyptians however did not know. Had they known it would have changed the game. Her beauty was to be gathered and  cultivated for the power of Egypt- for Egypt built its kingdom on their vanities of physical beauty. Also with being barren she would be able to maybe have relations with the Pharaoh and who would know? No child would come of it? Sarah knew that God would know. She would know. 

Why is this important? She is about to be placed in a most precarious situation.  When Abraham asks her to lie for him (so that the Egyptians do not kill him), it begins an act in her life that forces her to define the power of her faith. It helps her to determine how unconditional her love for God and Abraham must become. 

Consider if you will that Sarah left a societal position of great stature to wander in the desert with Abraham.  And that when she is taken before the Pharaoh he offers her the opportunity to have all that she had lost and more. While she is with the Pharaoh (and we are not told how long this drama acted out) she cannot tell the Egyptians that she is married to Abraham, for they will surely kill him, so that they can claim her and her beauty for themselves.  She is literally between a rock and a hard place.

She must stand strong in her faith that God will deliver her. If she gives in to the Pharaoh’s attempts all will be lost – for she will forsake her family ties and her marital vows. If she tries to bargain with the Pharaoh he will see their deception as an attempt to defraud them and surely they will both die. What can she do? 

She prays and she allows her belief to give her the power to be strong in the face of great temptation. Consider also that her father in law worshiped Elkanah and Abraham himself had converted  back to his families traditional religion. Where did Sarah's faith lie? She was about to find out. 

One account I read from historical records talked about how when the Pharaoh pressed himself upon Sarah to woo her, he was physically shocked and rebuffed by an angel of the Lord. (1 Cor 16:22) He understood that this was no ordinary woman.  He understood that a God that he did not know had come to walk with her. So he asked and when the truth was told the whole truth, he was relieved to be rid of them. So great was his relief that he gave them great treasures. This could only have played out this way with the help of the Lord. Any other recourse by Sarah, by Lot, by Abraham or any other member of their family would have surely meant death and the destruction of the family.

Sarah alone had to stand strong against the temptations that the Pharaoh offered. Abraham was separated from her and could not come to her rescue. This was Sarah’s temptation. The covenant between God and Abraham was yet to occur. (Gen 17) She had to choose between the Pharaoh of Egypt and Abraham ( a desert nomad).  She had to choose between political power and the power of faith. She had to choose between material wealth and the love of her God and her husband. She had to choose between wealth, power, vanity and her covenant with the Lord.  The Lord told her “I will keep my promise.” It was her place to believe the power of his covenant.

Sarah stood strong. In her hour of temptation when the Lord tested the integrity of her faith , she championed the cause of faith and in so doing she set the path that would eventually give her what she wanted more than the Egyptians vanity, more than the position of power, more than the comforts of wealth - a family of her own. Soon the Lord will make covenants with a barren woman and a nomadic man. This covenant will bring to Sarah the one wish of her heart - a family to love. 

But not just any family – Sarah’s family becomes the covenant people of God. A family where God's love is taught, practiced and revered. All because she chose to stand strong- for Abraham and before God.  

Geneses 2 : Searching for Eden

I have always been enchanted by the four rivers that run out of Eden. I, (like many others) it turns out thought of them as a treasure map that would help find Eden. But like the chasing of rainbows Eden is not to be found. It is magical. It is not mystical. It is real.  It is not something you hold, but rather something deep and inspirational that holds you.  Eden comes to those who seek what Eden has to offer not- where is was originally found. 

I did some searching of my own. 

• I discovered that people have looked for centuries as to the whereabouts of the Garden of Eden.
•  I discovered that many believe it was in Africa, Mesopotamia, the Mountains near Iran, China, etc. 
• The 4 heads of the river were known as Pison, Gihon, Euphrates and Hidekkel
• There are as many speculative ideas as there are evidences for and against. So I decided not to be distracted by the exact whereabouts of Eden's Garden. 

When you consider there was a flood, etc.. it is unlikely that it is where it once was. Then I found a LDS reference to the Garden of Eden by Bruce A Van Orden, associate professor of Church history, BYU. Some key points he made concerning the whereabout of Eden are: 

• Before the fall of Adam (before he left the garden) the earth was in a paradisiacal form
• Before the fall, the Garden was the center of the paradisiacal earth. 
• After the fall there was no paradisiacal place. All of the earth fell. 
• Joseph Smith declared that (D&C 57) the ancient Garden of Eden was in Jackson Missiouri
• Brigham Young stated, "Joseph the Prophet told me that the garden of Eden was in Jackson Missouri."   (Journal of Wilfor Woodruff, vol. 5, 15 Mar. 1857 Archives Division, Church Historical Dept., Salt Lake City.) 
• President Joseph Fielding Smith said: “In accord with the revelations given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, we teach that the Garden of Eden was on the American continent located where the City of Zion, or the New Jerusalem, will be built. 
• When Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden, they eventually dwelt at a place called Adam-ondi-Ahman, situated in what is now Daviess County, Missouri. … We are committed to the fact that Adam dwelt on [the] American continent.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 3 vols., comp. Bruce R. McConkie, Salt Lake City:Bookcraft, 1956, 3:74. Compare Answers to Gospel Questions, 5 vols., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1957–75, 2:93–95, 4:19–24; and Alvin R. Dyer, in Conference Report, Oct. 1968, pp. 108–9.)

What I found more interesting is that Eden represents all that we hold dear. It's as if we are always searching for it, ever since Adam left Eden.  

Verse 9... talks about how God gave 

1. Beauty (trees that are pleasant to the sight)

2. Food (trees that are good for food)

3. Eternity (tree of life ) (Immortality)

4. Truth (tree of knowledge of good and evil) 

5. Water ( we know that a river ran out of Eden and divided into four branches.) 

 Think for a moment about your home. What do the common comforts of home offer? 

1. water 

2. food 

3. Beauty - for the soul.. visual, audio, touch, taste, thought (the 5 senses)

4. truth - for the spirit

5. knowledge of good and evil .. -for the experience of man that he might exercise his agency.

If a home has all of these things then you will have no need to leave. But they don't have them all and we must often leave our homes to find food, to find beuaty, to seek for truth and to learn about good and evil. 

It's as if we are always searching for the home we once knew as Eden's Garden. While we were there we did not have to work because all of our needs were provided for us. We did not have to fear because we did not know of evil.. or good.. we only knew of existence. 
As beautiful as the Garden of Eden was, I believe that I enjoy the experience of Eden much more than the place called Eden. For when we carry Eden in our hearts it can be with us everywhere we go. 

  

1 Timothy 4:1- 6 seducing spirits

When I was much younger, lol... I believed that beauty belonged to the mirror. I used to think that I had to be thin, fair faced, well dressed, and manicured to find beauty.  Beauty poured from a bottle and begged to be understood by how I perceived others saw me.

As the years have faded the rose of my cheek, the plump of my smile, I have learned that, beauty is an art. It is the act of giving yourself to others so that the two of you (as friends) become one in emotion and experience. It cannot be ranked, competed with, or even measured. It comes from the heart. It comes from selfless love for nature, for others, for self, and for the community in which we live.

Beauty comes from a pure soul that seeks words of faith and the practice of good doctrine. As I thought of Paul's words about how there would be a falling away in the latter days, I was drawn to consider the seduction of what the world perceives to be beauty.


Two proverbs come to mind:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder:
 beauty cannot be judged objectively, for what one person finds beautiful or admirable may not appeal to another.
Beauty is only skin-deep 
a pleasing appearance is not a guide to character.

If you look at Paul's words with the eye of beauty... you can see how the world has given us seducing spirits and doctrines of devils that teach (in relation to beauty) lies, hypocrisy, and other temptations.

Beauty cannot be owned. It cannot be held. It must be felt from within. True beauty comes from the soul.

Paul taught that a falling away would occur. An apostasy if you will. It would occur because of

A. Seducing (tempting) spirits
B. Doctrines of Devils
Together these would

• 1. speak lies (i.e.tell us that beauty is perfection. That beauty must be seen and never felt. 
• 2. hypocrisy  (i.e. hypocrites tell us that if we buy a certain product we will feel beautiful. The thing they forget to tell you is that no matter how beautiful you may look to another person, the only person that matters is you and it is not how you look, but rather how you feel.) 
• 3. sear your conscience . ( when you have been misled by media's perfect photo, pornography, harlots, materialism, lust, etc.. and you realize your mistake and all that you have lost, your conscience will cry out) 
• 4. forbid marriage ( this can be many things.. whatever forbids the organization, upkeep, and love of a family. Whatever there is that teaches you that the family is not important.. then you have been seduced by devilish doctrine. 
• 5. vegetarianism - Paul reminds us that the animal and plant kingdom both have been ordained for the use of man for both food and clothing.

These evil doctrines may come from old wives tales.. from traditions.

But in the latter day a few sources I have found: advertising, marketing, corporate greed, food that would harm us but we have been misled to consider that it is good for us, pornography, gaming, idle use of our time.

It is important for us to remember that in order to be a "good minister of Jesus Christ" we must nourish ourselves with the words of faith... and of good doctrine. We must be aware of such doctrines that would temp us to believe untruths. We must be vigilant in seeking out the true outcomes of our behaviors and how they will affect not only us but our future generations that will come in our families "latter times".


The most beautiful smiles come from the young heart yet untouched 
and the old soul who has given much.