Many people don’t realize the most extraordinary healing God did for women in the Old Testament. Without God opening the barren wombs of women in the Old Testament, He would never have brought about His plan for Israel and Jesus.

In my last post, I described the ways God healed people in the Old Testament. In this post, I want to talk about the most extraordinary healings of women, bringing life to barren women in the Old Testament.

God’s plan of salvation came through the miracle of opening the wombs of women who could not bear children. Even today, women suffer this inability to bear children. That is not God’s best for you.

As we look at how God healed the wombs of women in the Old Testament to bring about His plan of salvation and blessing, be ready for miracles to happen to you. The Lord is near to you and He can bring life in every circumstance. Believe and see the hand of God move in your body and life.

Bringing Barren Wombs to Life

God is the God of life. He calls life out of death. The curse given in the Garden of Eden did not include barrenness or birth defects. It only declared pain would increase in childbirth. We think we understand everything about childbirth with our medical science but God is ultimately sovereign over this process.

Eve, exclaimed with joy after Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord” (Genesis 4:1). Though labor was painful, she received two sons. Don’t let our science and modern understanding get in the way of seeing God as the one who helps open the womb and give the blessing of children.

No matter what we know, or think we know, about the birthing process, God is deeply involved. He is the one who grants life. The psalmist describes the process of creating each person in the womb. God forms and knits together each person and He sees the whole process in the womb (Psalm 139:13-16).

You’re not an accident or a mistake. Even if your parents were unaware of your birth, God knows and sees you from your formation in your mother’s womb until now. He is incredibly interested in you. He planned your birth, gave you life, and wants to give you life everlasting today.

Barren Sarah’s Story

Let’s look at some examples of God’s most extraordinary healing of women with Sarah. Sarah was 90 years old when God fulfilled His promise to this couple. Think about how long she waited – her whole life to receive a son from the Lord. Abraham is credited with faith because he believed God’s promise (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23).

Abraham and Sarah left the comforts of Ur and set out on a journey to their destiny. But they didn’t know what that destiny was. From the beginning they relied on faith and followed God’s GPS to the place He had for them. Along the way, there was no heir for Abraham to give an inheritance to.

They had a lot of faith. But even they were challenged with imagining an heir as they grew older. Sarah was passed the age for bearing children. God came to Abraham and Sarah was in her tent as He again told Abraham Sarah would have a child within the year (Genesis 18:10). Sarah laughed at the thought of having a child in her old age (Genesis 18:12).

God called her out and she said she didn’t laugh. The amazing thing about God’s miracle for her is that within a year’s time Sarah was holding Isaac, the son promised to them. Isaac’s name means “Laughter.” The same laughter of disbelief a year ago was now the laughter of joy for a new life born from a once barren womb.

If God can make a 90-year-old womb bear children, nothing is impossible for Him (). God makes the impossible possible regularly.

Isaac’s Miracle Prayer

As we continue to look at the most extraordinary of women, it’s amazing how much the forefathers of Israel and their wives had trouble with barrenness. It happened in the first three generations. Isaac’s and Rebecca’s story is different from their parents.

You could miss this amazing transformation because it’s one verse in the Bible. Abraham and Sarah struggled for 25 years to trust God for Isaac. Isaac was also a man of faith and when his wife Rebecca was barren like Sarah, Isaac simply prayed a prayer of faith (Genesis 25:21).

God heard Isaac’s prayer and opened Rebecca’s womb. She had two children! God doubly blessed Isaac and Rebecca. In one sentence the problem of barrenness was raised and quickly answered through prayer. Have the faith to pray big things and see God bless you beyond your wildest dreams.

Game of Barren Wives

We continue our journey of the most extraordinary healings of women to find that Jacob in the third-generation of forefathers married two women, and both of them were barren at different times. It’s almost comical to watch how God sovereignly opened and closed their wombs.

Leah and Rachel at different times were able to bear children. Leah was the first (Genesis 29:31-35). Look at what she says each time she bears a child. “Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction,” “Because the Lord has heard that I hated He has given me his son also,” “This time I will praise the Lord.”

Three out of four sons she talks about how the Lord is involved. Rachel saw she had no children and gave her maidservant to Jacob like Sarah did for Abraham. Look at what Jacob says to her when she is angry that she had no children (Genesis 30:2). “Am I in the place of God who has withheld from you the fruit of your womb?”

Not only does Jacob readily admit that birth is always in God’s hands, but he charges God when a woman cannot bear children. Put that in your theology book and read it. Until we’re finished with Jacob’s story, he has twelve sons to these four women, to Rachel and Leah, and to their two maidservants.

A Prophet Is Born

A prophet is born as one of the most extraordinary healings of women. Many people are familiar with Hannah’s story (1 Samuel 1-2). She is tortured by her husband’s other wife because she can bear children while Hannah cannot. Who does Hannah ultimately go to for her case to be heard and answered? God.

Hannah goes to the festival and begs God for a child. She is so focused in her prayers on this issue that Eli the priest thinks she is intoxicated. Nevertheless, God answers her prayer and opens her womb. She is so happy that she dedicates Samuel to temple service with Eli. We have seen this pattern of relying on the Lord to open the barren womb.

The Special Judge Is an Extraordinary Miracle Healing

One last example the Old Testament gives us is a very special judge of Israel who was born to a barren woman (Judges 13:1-7). An angel appears to Samson’s mother and tells her that she is barren but she will have a son. Her son will be very special because he will be one who takes the Nazirite vow, a vow of setting on apart for service to the Lord.

The specific things the angel tells her and her husband to do fulfill this bow before the Lord. What’s interesting is that Samson becomes one of the greatest judges in Israel because of his parents’ obedience and reverence. The jury’s still out on Samson, but he was a special judge in Israel and came from his mother’s barren womb.

God Works in Extraordinary Miracle Healings of Women

We let mountains get in the way of our faith. God can do the impossible in your life and your body. He can open your womb no matter how many doctors or treatments you have sought after to help you conceive.

It is not that you cannot seek these other ways but why not go to God who opens and closes the wombs of these prominent women in the Old Testament? Look to God for your healing and the fruit of your womb to flow by God’s blessing and grace.

Praying for Your Healing

Although I am not married or a woman, I understand as a pastor how important this is. God has naturally made you with motherly instincts and desires. Let me join my prayers to yours for you to become pregnant and have the children you so long for.

Mighty and miracle-making Jesus, I ask You for my sister in You to answer prayers and open her womb. She has a desire to care for children You have given her. Whatever is making it impossible by her own means to become pregnant, I ask You to do your most extraordinary miracle in her body and give her the ability to bear healthy children that she can train up to grow in You. Thank You for Your goodness and blessing in her life. In the name of the blessed Lord Jesus, Amen.

Up Next

now that we have talked about the most extraordinary miracles of the Old Testament I want to turn our attention to how God dealt with sickness in the Old Testament.

Image by Manuel Alejandro Leon from Pixabay