RUNNING AHEAD OF GOD
Opening Prayer
Lord, today I present myself before You. What I seek, only You can give; what I ask, only You can provide.
Read GENESIS 21:1–21
The Birth of Isaac
21 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac[a] to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[b] will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she[c] began to sob.
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
Footnotes
- Genesis 21:3 Isaac means he laughs.
- Genesis 21:12 Or seed
- Genesis 21:16 Hebrew; Septuagint the child
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
Worship the Lord for His perfect timing in keeping His promises. He is never too early, or too late.
Think Further
How often have you received a promise from the Lord and expected that promise to be fulfilled at best within days – or at worst, weeks? Abraham and Sarah have had to wait 25 years.1 In the intervening years, from reception to delivery of the promise, they decide to give God a helping hand. Maybe they cannot believe that decades into Sarah’s post-menopause they would have a child. Or maybe they think that God would forget, or even run out of time. They do not have our privilege of the biblical accounts of God fulfilling His promises.
Abraham and Sarah’s wait in terms of biblical history was a very short time. The wait for the coming of God’s promised redeemer2 was thousands of years until the time when Jesus Christ, God’s Son and Savior of the world, appeared onto the pages of human history to redeem mankind to adoptive sonship and inheritance. Today, you and I are covenant heirs of that great promise.3 God always keeps His promises.
Have you been tempted to give God a helping hand because His promise has not yet been fulfilled? When you run ahead and interfere with God’s plans, you can birth an Ishmael.4 ‘Ishmaels’ have a tendency to remind you that you did not wait for God.5 They can be upsetting because they remind you of your lack of faith, as with Sarah.6 In fact, you can end up wishing that the ‘Ishmael’ had never been born.7 Unfortunately, you cannot turn the clock back, or go back in time and undo your impatience. You may have to live with the consequences of your impetuosity. Thank God that He is kind and patient, allowing you to mature in faith so that you can learn how to wait on Him to fulfill His promises.
Apply
Lord, help my faith to mature so that I can trust You for all things at all times, especially in the times of delay.
Closing prayer
Patient One, I know I can be so impatient. I know I can only overcome this struggle through always trusting You. Infuse me with Your grace and power.
1 Gen 12:4; 15:4,5; 21:5 2 See Isa 59:20 3 Gal 4:4,5 4 Gen 16:2 5 Gen 16:5 6 Gen 16:4
7 Gen 16:5
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