Bible reading: Genesis 15,16, Hebrew 10.
“For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” –Hebrews 10:36 (KJV)
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children: Many years before this, God promised Abram that he would have many descendants (Genesis 12:2).
There was a lot of pains; the pain of hope deferred making the heart sick, the pain of prayers not yet answered. The pain of arms that are yet to hold his or her own child, the pain of public shame, the pain of blaming God for one’s problems.
Sarai encouraged Abram, she said to him, Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her. Nevertheless, this was against God’s will. It was a sin of unbelief in God and to His promise. Abram and Sarai were discouraged enough that they approached the problem of no children by leaving God out of the matter. And Abram heeded to the voice of Sarai.
The long wait for the promise discouraged them and made them vulnerable to acting in the flesh. Yet even after this, it would still be more than 13 years until the child of promise came.
When we impatiently try to fulfill God’s promises in our own effort, it accomplishes nothing and may even prolong the time until the promise is fulfilled. It is important to note that anytime we hastily obtain things that was not given to us by God , the result is always Ishmael, and Ishmael will always smell.
It is much better to receive God’s help than to try and help Him with our own wisdom and even unbelief.
This is a good reminder that results are not enough to justify what we do before God. It’s not right to say, “Well, they got a baby out of it. It must have been God’s Will.” The flesh profits nothing (John 6:63), but it can produce something. Doing things in the flesh may get results, and we may be sorry we got them afterwards.
Whatever a man or woman attempts to do without God will be a miserable failure – or an even more miserable success. We must learn and be determined to wait for that which God has promised us. IF HE HAD SAID IT, THEN HE WILL DO IT SURELY! Many times we just miss out from the blessing or answer from God because we are not patient enough.
Waiting on God for answers to our prayers is one of the most difficult aspects of faith. Everyone must face times of waiting. There are so many scriptures that talk to us about waiting, so we know we will all be called on to wait on the lord. God has promised to take care of us and to meet our needs. He wants only the best for us and He always has our best interests at heart. Waiting time is not wasted time. It always serves a purpose.
You may feel like you are the only person who have had to wait for things to change or to see answers to your prayers. It may seem to you like God has abandoned you or forgotten you because you’ve had to wait for what seems like eternity. What can we learn in our waiting? We learn about trust, patience, obedience, endurance and how to quiet our minds and to be still before Him. We can learn more about God Himself that We are not alone in our waiting…He is with us, giving us His strength, comfort and grace. He encourages us and is working in us things that have lasting and eternal value.
In times of waiting, we learn to trust Him like never before. when our faith has been tried and tested we gain first hand knowledge of His faithfulness. During times of waiting, we learn that the Lord sees things that we can’t see. He sees the bigger picture of our lives. He sees from beginning to end, while we can only see the small portion right in front of us. We learn to lean on Him and not our own understanding. We learn to live without fear and to walk by faith.
Asking God to help us “wait well” makes our times of waiting much easier. Waiting time is not passive. It should be spent in prayer and in God’s Word. It is seeking Him and His will and what He wants to show and teach us while we are waiting. It is asking Him to work on our attitude and our faith so we can trust more and let go of our fears, our doubts, our need to be in control. It is asking Him to use the time to make us more like Jesus so we respond like Jesus would while we wait.
Prayer:
Father, give me the grace to wait upon you, help me Lord not to give up, or lose out at the verge of my miracle/ breakthrough.
Pst. Iroham Chido