Lord, What Happened to the Promise?
So God has promised you something, you become excited and wait for that thing to come to pass, but then it takes longer than you thought it would, even to the point where it doesn’t look like it’s even going to happen, so you move on from it, assuming that the Lord may have changed His plans or you try to take matters into your own hands and make it happen yourself. You’re not alone, this was the case for Abraham and Sarah. God promised Abraham that He would turn him into a mighty nation and his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. It’s reasonable to assume that he told his wife, Sarah, some of the things that the Lord had promised him, and because she had not borne him any children, she may have felt like she was standing in the way of God’s promises being fulfilled in her husband’s life.
Sarah’s Lack of Faith
While reading the text, it’s easy to say, “Why didn’t she just have faith and believe that she would eventually be able to conceive?” But, we should keep in mind that there was no internet at that time. It’s not like she could go online and find encouraging testimonies of God answering the prayers of women that were struggling to conceive a child. Is that an excuse for her lack of faith? No. But, at the end of the day she was human, and we as humans have faults. 10 years had passed from the time that we first saw the Lord speak concerning the promise to Abraham to the time that Sarah decided to give Hagar to Abraham as a wife. At that point, it didn’t look like she was ever going to be able to conceive, so she allowed her husband to have children through someone else. After Ishmael was born, God appeared to Abraham again, and this time He finally mentioned Sarah. He changed her name from Sarai to Sarah and said that she would bear Abraham a son, and through him will His everlasting covenant be established. After this encounter, we see the Lord confirm His promise to Sarah, but she didn’t believe that it would happen because of her age, but who can stop the plans of the Lord?
But the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I actually give birth to a child, when I am so old?’ Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah denied it, however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
Genesis 18:13-14 NASB
So What Took So Long?
And, just as the Lord had spoken, Sarah conceived and gave birth to Isaac the following year. So why did it take so long for the promise to be birthed? The Lord was creating a testimony through them. This was a story of faith. How is it possible for a woman to be able to conceive in her 90s without divine intervention? That’s something that can only come from the hand of God. The Lord waited until a natural conception seemed impossible so that He could step in, do the supernatural and create a powerful testimony through their situation. Know that if God is making you wait, it’s for a reason. He’s creating a testimony through you! You have to trust God when it doesn’t make sense. When the Lord promises you something, and everything around you looks like the opposite of what was spoken, maybe consider that the Lord is setting you up for the supernatural. When the Lord finally brings you the promise that you’ve been waiting on, you’ll realize the wait was so worth it and, none of the time that had passed was wasted because now you have beautiful testimony to share that will encourage others who may be going through the same thing that you went through. Ultimately, no matter what it looks like, don’t go outside of His will and try to make the promise happen on your timing, but wait and allow Him to bring it to pass because only God can give you what He has promised, and anything else is a counterfeit.
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