GET THE BABY ROOM READY

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. ~Isaiah 54:1

To learn what barren means, you need not look any further than Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah. Here you will find that it means to be married to a promise, yet unable to produce, unable to put down roots. And in case the barren needs any further proof of their impotency, they are subjected to the horror of watching their promise prosper in the bosom of their rival’s, Hagar, Leah, and Peninnah.

To be barren is to be desolate, which means: “to be deserted, to be deflowered, to be awestruck.” It is the feeling of, “How can this be happening to me.” The exact feeling Tamar felt when she was raped by her half brother Amnon: “So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house” (2 Samuel 13:20). It also means to be a widow, but in the sense of “dead woman walking.” In other words, Hannah had to watch all of Peninnahs’ kids run around and call Elkanah daddy, all the while her womb was dead.

But her heart wasn’t dead. And in that heart lived a promise that refused to die and in that heart lived a new found strength that relied on God and God alone.

God had her right where he wanted her: “With God all things are possible.”

Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. ~Isaiah 54:2-3

This is the word of the Lord: Get the baby room ready, there’s an Isaac coming, there’s a Joseph coming. Get ready! Samuel is on the way: Not one good word of his promise will fail you!