Promised Of God: Traveling With Unmet ExpectationsSample

Promises Delayed: Hurry Up and Wait

God’s original promise was two-fold, that Abram would inherit land and that his descendants would be innumerable. During his journeys around the middle east, we see that God continued to renew His promises. He re-ups on His assurances a number of times and yet Abram walks for what seems like an eternity with nothing really to show for it.

God established His first covenant (this one specifically regarding the land) in chapter 15 of Genesis. Canaan- the country Abram had been literally skirting in and around for years. He was certainly finally living within his assured land at this point… yet he had many, many neighbors. Suffice it to say, he probably did not feel like he owned the place yet. But he was there… he had walked the length and breadth of it, fought within it, lived in it. The promise was thisclose to being fulfilled. And all it had taken was some obedience.

One down, one to go. Now to the pesky problem of his wife Sarai’s barrenness. How can a great nation come from an empty womb? The couple was well along in years by this point. Such a thing they could not ‘obey’ their way into, there was no place to ‘go’ per se. This didn’t stop them from trying to fulfill this promise themselves. They attempted to kick-start the next generation through Sarai’s handmaiden Hagar. Who in turn birthed Ishmael… and the rest of that line is history. (Can anyone say “massive, future fallout”?) 

As you read Genesis 16 what strikes you about this arrangement? Have you ever gotten in the way of trying to fulfill God’s promises yourself? Doing something under your own power and understanding?

Sometimes God asks us to actively accomplish His promises and sometimes He demands we stay as far out of the way as possible. Abram’s promises of God encompassed both- He had to go to the land God showed him, he had to take possession, see, and walk it. He also had to simply let God make him a father of a multitude. There was nothing he could do within himself to make Sarai’s womb open… that’s GodStuff. He simply needed to have faith.

How often do you try to help God along in His plans? How well do you obey when you do have instructions? How well are you with simply waiting and watching? Which kind of faith is harder for you?

Despite Abram royally botching this second promise, God remained faithful to His end of it. Twenty-five years after the initial calling, God establishes a second, specific, detailed signed-sealed-delivered covenant with Abram. One that was marked in blood and physical sacrifice. God finally addresses the second, decades long, seemingly impossible promise… that Abram would be the father of a great nation. 

And yet… you see the similarities in Genesis 17 as we saw in the very first set of instructions? 

The same questions from Genesis 15 must have swirled in his head now two chapters and several decades later. Abraham waited years! When Lord? How is this to be? You haven’t fixed the ‘problem’ here! How long from the promise to the fruition? 

Are you found faithful when God honors you with delay? 

I’ll give away the end of the story early (#spoileralert)… Abraham never saw the full promise with his own eyes… he never really reached the ‘point’- the place he could retire and call it a day. But oh how much he got in return, his faith became legend. Patience takes practice- but God is working within the wait.

REFLECTION:

Are you willing to go when called, knowing that God may not ever bring you fully into His promise while on earth? 

Can you handle not obtaining the whole destination here and now? 

What in your heart needs to change about your expectations of God’s timing and promises over you?