"Sobering Words"

"Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh." Genesis 18:15 

When the Lord said that Sarah was going to bear a child in her old age, she laughed. The scripture above was His response to her response. (It is what I call a "sobering word".) It is when God speaks to you in a serious manner to get your attention. He did this also with the prophet Samuel who was mourning God's rejection of King Saul. "And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?" (1 Samuel 16:1a)

 

When God spoke these "sobering" words to Sarah, it was when He was ready to fulfill His promise and bring her into her role in it. "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." (Genesis 18:14) When He spoke those "sobering" words to Samuel, it was when He was ready to have Samuel anoint a new king of Israel. "fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons." (1 Samuel 16:1b)

 

When God is ready to take us to the next level, or fulfill His purpose through us, or bring us into our destiny, He will confront us with a "sobering word". Those words are intended to get us refocused from what we see with our natural eyes and begin to look through the eyes of faith. They are intended to change our fleshly, carnal thinking and renew our mind. They are intended to get us looking at God and not at the situation around us. 

 

Sarah was looking at her age and her inability. He spoke a sobering word to remind her that with God nothing is impossible. Afterwards, "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) Samuel was looking through the eyes of grief at the failure of Saul. When God spoke a sobering word to him, by faith he anointed the next king of Israel. These "sobering words" came and they were brought into their next level of destiny-- Sarah gave birth to the child of promise and Samuel anointed the king through whose lineage the Messiah would be born. 

 

Have you been looking at things through the eyes of the flesh? Are you focused on natural things? If God speaks a "sobering word" to you-- a word of correction, a word to refocus your thoughts-- take heed and listen. He is preparing you to take you to your next level of destiny.

 

Have a great day. When God is ready to take us to the next level of our destiny, He will speak a word that will get our attention.

 

For further reading:

Genesis 21:1-7

1 Samuel 16:1-13