Many of us have probably heard a doctor say, “Now all we have to do is wait. The tests results will take 10 to 14 days.” Ugh! We waited a month for the consultation, 3 weeks for the scans to do be done, 3 more days to talk about the tests with the doctor, and now I have 2 more weeks to wait! It can be frustrating, discouraging, and even depressing to wait. Waiting seems to be an easy thing to do, but it can be very challenging at times!
Abraham and Sarah’s 25 years of waiting has finally come to end in Genesis 21. Their waiting was filled with doubting God’s promise, taking matters into their own hands, and times of trusting God. Everything is finally made clear and God’s promise is fulfilled.
We are often called on to wait on the Lord for a long time. Don’t grow weary in waiting on the Lord! We must choose to trust God when He calls us to obey Him and to wait on Him.
Trust God when your wait feels too long.
Genesis 21:1-7. God fulfills a promise He made to Abraham and Sarah some 25 years ago! In Genesis 12, Abraham received the promise of a child at the age of 75. In Genesis 21, Isaac was born and Abraham was 100 years old (and Sarah is 90). Sarah had spent all these years married to Abraham and she was barren the entire time...until now.
The cultural significance should also be understood! Having a child in the ancient world was very meaningful and important. So, to be barren all these years was a greater hardship for Sarah and Abraham than it is today. When Isaac was born, Sarah’s shame was removed and God publicly demonstrated His faithfulness to His word. This is a momentous occasion, for sure!
Our struggle is that we live in a world that demands instant results. We text someone and wonder why they haven’t responded yet since two minutes have passed. We get upset with the GPS in the car because it says it will take too long to get there. We put food in the microwave, set the timer for 30 seconds, and at 20 seconds we are wondering why it is taking so long. Sometimes we treat God the same way! We pray, we obey, and we wait…but nothing happens. We even think it is too late for God to work.
God is never late. Our human brains wonder what God is thinking, because what we can see is God’s inactivity. We wonder why He is taking so long, and whether or not God has forgotten us! It seems He is late! So, we grow impatient and discouraged. However, just as Genesis 21:2 says, God will fulfill His word “at the set time” that God has determined.
What promises of God have you been waiting for Him to fulfill in your life?
1. Is it the promise of His presence? “I will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5).” You are claiming this promise, but you feel abandoned, alone, and believe you have no one to help you. Take a moment to self-evaluate. Are you choosing to isolate yourself because you are discouraged? Are you avoiding Bible studies, prayer meetings, and worship services, but wonder why God feels so far away? We will often reject the very things we desperately need, and rejecting those things keeps the cycle going.
2. Is it the promise of answered prayer? “Ask and it shall be given you…for everyone that asks receives (Matt. 7:7-8).” Are you wondering when God will finally answer your prayer? God’s delay is not necessarily His denial; however, His timing is not part of the promise. Consider a few things as you wait for God’s answer to your prayers.
Is there known sin that you need to confess and repent (Ps. 66:18)?
The best you understand, are you praying God’s will or are you praying your wants (I Jn. 5:14-15)?
Has God revealed a “no” or “wait” answer, but you are ignoring or rejecting that answer?
Have you been walking close to God (in His Word, before His throne, growing in grace) or are you walking close to logic, friends, and the world’s ways (Jn. 15:7)?
3. Is it the promise of His guidance? “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go (Ps. 32:8)?” Are you waiting on God (for what seems like “forever”) for guidance concerning a job, a relationship, a ministry, or some other major decision in your life, and all you can hear are the crickets buzzing in the pond? It is a struggle, isn’t it?! We want a complete map, but God only gives us the next step. Maybe the next step is to keep on praying and reading the Bible…maybe the next step is to keep on obeying God in other ways…and maybe the next step is to trust God is working when you can’t see what He is doing!
4. Is the promise that God will provide? “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19)? God’s provision often doesn’t arrive when we think it should! Have you considered that perhaps God’s current choice for you is to provide for you one day at a time? Do you have what you need for today? Trust God for the rest in His “set time!”
5. Is it the promise of justice? “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. (Rom. 12:19)? When someone is guilty of wrongdoing against us, we may wait a long time to see God’s justice (i.e.- Noah waited 120 years). However, sometimes, God does not allow us to see the justice He brings on our offenders.
For example, in I Kings 21, Naboth refused to sell his land to King Ahab and was eventually murdered for it. He never saw God judge Ahab and Jezebel before his death. Another example would be how Stephen (Acts 7:54-60) was falsely accused and then stoned for his testimony. Stephen did not live to see Saul’s conversion a few days later (and he was the one who held the coats of those throwing stones at him). He also didn’t see justice served on those who unjustly killed him. What Stephen did do during the stoning was say, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” (Acts 7:60).
Managing perfect justice is not our job; it belongs to the Lord! Yet, we can trust the Lord that He will do what He has said. It may not be in our desired timing, and we may not be witness to the justice, but God will be just!
God will provide. God will guide you. God will answer prayer, and God will make His presence known! Trust God and His promise, but don’t attach your heart to specific timing that God never included in the promise. God’s timing may not make sense to me and you. But it is in those long times of waiting that we must trust God’s faithfulness!
Trust God when doing right is painful
Genesis 21:8-21. In this next section of scripture, we read about the painful scene of Abraham having to send Hagar and Ishmael away, but God sees their distressing situation and provides for them. The Lord tells Abraham to go ahead and send them (just as Sarah had insisted). In verses 12 and 13, God points out two things. First, we are reminded that sending them away will preserve Abraham’s family line to come through Isaac. Second, God reveals that He will also raise up a nation through Ishmael “because he is Abraham’s seed.”
Sometimes obeying God involves painful choices. Abraham leaving his homeland and extended family to sojourn, Abraham and Sarah waiting 25 years for the promised child, and Abraham sending away Hagar and Ishmael were painful, but obedient decisions. Even when the pain is the outcome of a wrong choice we made (Abraham having a child with Hagar), God sees those affected and is able to care for them as well! Doing what is right does not always feel easy, but that doesn’t change our need to obey the Lord. Painful obedience is matched by God’s grace all throughout the Bible. Remember Daniel in the lion’s den for praying? Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace for not bowing to a false idol? Remember Jospeh was thrown into jail for being falsely accused of rape? Remember John the Baptist was thrown into jail and then beheaded because he confronted the king over his sinful relationship with Herodias? Remember Paul was stoned and left for dead for telling others about God’s saving grace? Each obeyed…each endured pain or the looming thought of possible pain…and yet God brought them through it all as they trusted Him.
Trust God Because His Faithfulness is Clear
Genesis 21:22-34. Abraham has gone through so much in the last 25 years (constant travel, famine, a war to rescue Lot, saying his wife is his sister…twice, and more. Now at the end of this chapter, King Abimelech says, “God is with thee in all that you do,” (21:22). Abraham’s growing influence because of God’s favor over him, is recognized by a foreign king!
A.W. Tozer says in his book, The Attributes of God, “God never changes. He is always the same. This is the only comfort we have in a world that is constantly in a state of change. He is the only truly reliable person there is.”
So, anchor your life to the God who never changes! We must choose to trust God when He calls us to obey and wait. Keep on praying to Him…keep on learning about Him…keep on worshiping Him…keep on obeying Him…and keep on trusting Him…this is what waiting on Him looks like!