I must admit that I have a hard time waiting. When someone asks if I want to get coffee, I want to go immediately. If I make plans to see a movie with friends, I want to go as soon as possible. Can you relate? Waiting is never easy. Some of the things we wait for are trivial, like waiting to get coffee or go to a movie with friends. Other things we are waiting for are certainly not trivial, such as waiting for the job promotion you have worked hard for, a spouse, physical healing, or something else. While waiting is difficult, we are not alone in our waiting, and we can cling to God's promises while we wait.
Abraham, who was also called Abram, understood what it was like to wait. In Genesis 15, God made an unbelievable promise to Him. He said to Abraham, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!" Scripture tells us that Abraham "believed the Lord and the Lord counted him as righteous because of His faith" (verse 5). Abraham trusted God and His plan for his life, and God honored his faith.
Although Abraham believed God when He promised him a son, Abraham’s faith eventually waivered. Perhaps he became impatient. Perhaps He wondered if he had misunderstood God's promise. His wife Sarah must have felt some of these emotions, too. Eventually, Abraham became tired and tried to have this family God promised in His own power. Sarah, his wife, who was also called Sarai, told him to have a son with her servant, Hagar. As a result, a son was born to Hagar named Ishmael. This was never God's plan to further Abraham's lineage. You see, God's plan was for Abraham's line to be continued through Abraham and Sarah. As a result of Ishmael's birth, Sarah became very jealous of Hagar. Eventually, Hagar and Ishmael had to flee from Abraham and Sarah. All of this contention happened as a result of Abraham and Sarah trying to continue Abraham's family line through their own power and not trusting God.
It is easy to judge Abraham and Sarah for trying to extend Abraham's line on their own power, but we do it all the time. We stop trusting God's plan and try to make things happen in our own power. We deliberately disobey Him or go against His plan so that we can get what we want when we want it. There is a better way: trusting God's plan even when we have to wait and when things seem uncertain. After all, He is faithful and trustworthy. His plan is better than any we could imagine.
If we trust God and His plan, we can rest. We do not have to strive or try to make things happen in our own power. Write out a prayer to God today. Thank you that He is good and He has a plan. Ask Him to help you trust His plan in every area of your life, even in the areas where you are waiting for Him to work. He is good and does good.
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)
4 So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!”
6 Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. 8 The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied.
9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” 10 Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.”
11 And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress. 12 This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”
13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” 14 So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.
