BULLETIN ARTICLE
19 May 2019
TRUSTING GOD
“Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised” (Genesis 21:1).
With the birth of Isaac, Abraham finally saw the reality of how God was going to bless him and his family. This was some 25 years after God promised him that: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). God could have used another way for Abraham’s son Isaac to be born. Sarah’s womb need not be closed. She need not be past child-bearing age to give birth. But in his infinite wisdom, God chose the way that Genesis recorded for us. Were those 25 years that Abraham waited considered a waste? While the outcome was important, God was more concerned in moulding the heart of Abraham.
For Abraham, it was not a smooth journey of faith. Just like Abraham, Christians do sin and many a time fail to remember that they are worshipping the true and Almighty God. Abraham took upon himself that he needs to tell half-truths (Sarah is my sister) to protect himself. Even Sarah for a while doubted God’s words when God first told Abraham that: “Sarah your wife will have a son”.
Waiting can be an agonising process for all of us. In our current time and age, we are used to instant satisfaction. We have instant noodles, instant coffee and seek instant gratification. We use PayNow to instantly transfer funds from one account to another. Information and answers to our questions are readily and instantly available when we use “Google” in our mobile devices. However, even with the most modern conveniences we presently have, we still need to patiently wait for:
+ News of a job application.
+ Outcome of a medical test
+ Mr or Miss Right
+ One’s spouse or child to become interested in spiritual things.
However, when Sarah saw that she was still barren and God had not done anything, she decided to take things into her own hands. She arranged for her slave Hagar to sleep with her husband Abram and to have a son. “So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael” (Genesis 16:15-16).
Despite those times of shortcomings, we read in the New Testament about Abraham’s and Sarah’s faith. “Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness”” (Romans 4:20-22). “And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise” (Hebrew 11:11).
Abraham and Sarah were able to believe because they had full confidence in what God had said. Abraham was persuaded that, what God had promised, he would perform. Sarah judged him faithful who had promised. Let us persevere and continue to trust God during the waiting phase. Abraham’s waiting helped strengthened his faith. Abraham knew that God would ultimately provide everything he needed.
