God is the God of promise. Faith involves trusting the promises of God. God makes a promise; faith believes it, hope anticipates it, patience quietly waits for it.- Nicky Gumbel.
Waiting patiently is not a trait that humans are born with. When I see a problem I want it to be resolved. But sometimes we just have to wait for The Lord to “knead that dough-problem, sit it down on the counter to the rise-the solution, then put it into the oven to bake-the resolution. But it is the timing of the baking that determines if one will have a lovely loaf of bread or a disaster. Wait patiently for the solution to become reality in the flesh. It has already happened in the spirit. Abraham and Sarah learned that lesson the hard way (Genesis 16:1–16; 17:18–26; 21:1–21). God made a promise to Abraham. He would have a son.
The promise of God to Abraham.
1 After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 2 And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4 And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. Gen 15:1-5
Abraham believed it. So did Sarah. But they had to wait for that promise to be fulfilled. Waiting without the spirit leading you and molding your patience cane be gut wrenching.
Waiting for promises
God promises are sure. He told Abraham that he would have a child and an heir. From that heir, his generations would be more numerous than the stars in heaven. Can you imagine that? We don’t even know how many stars are in the galaxy and yet, God was promising this to Abraham.
“5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. Gen 15:1-5“
What an amazing promise from God. Can imagine God coming to you and telling you exactly what would happen to you and all of the generations of your family? What would you do? How would you wait? Why would you believe it?
Disaster might strike if we don’t wait.
BUT it didn’t happen right away. Sarah’s biological clock was ticking loudly and quickly, so she thought that she could come up with a solution to the problem of being childless. So, Sarah decided to make it happen.
Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. 3 And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. 4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
Genesis 16 Sarah took action because after all, she was getting older. She took action because after all,, that action was acceptable during her culture. At that time in history, it was normal for men to have children with their servants. After all her husband was a leader and he needed to secure “his kingdom for future generations.”
The fall out
Hagar taunted Sarah. She basically told her that she was an “old dried up woman!” She may have bragged about how she could please Abraham because SHE gave him a son. She gave him an heir to his kingdom, but Sarah did not. Instead of owning the situation what did Sarah do? Instead of acknowledging that the situation existed because he was NOT willing to wait on the Lord, Sarah went off the rails. Then she blames Abraham for fulfilling her need for a child.
5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.
But who asked for the surrogate in the first place? Sarah! She was not willing to wait for God to produce an heir for Abraham through her.
Trouble continues
6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thine hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
Abraham did not take the lead. He did not put a lid on what he should not have done in the first place. He gave Sarah a son through Hagar. He did not tell her “NO!” He did not wait for God to fulfill His promise to him.
No, he will NOT stay here, not with my son.
What happened when they did not wait patiently for God’s answer to their prayers? What is happening now due to them not being willing to wait? Abraham wanted Ishmael to be the son of the promise. But God had a different plan. The son of promise did come. Then family troubles began: To this very day the first son of Abraham is at war with “the son of Promise. Read the entire chapter of Genesis 21.
The Middle East conflict resulted from this impatience and unwillingness to trust God and to wait. Everything that glitters is NOT gold. Sometimes when one finds gold it disrupts one’s life to no end. When God makes a promise to you be patient and wait for Him to fulfill it. You do not know the future. You do not know what lies ahead. Just wait.
You Are Not the Only One 