In the book of Genesis chapter 15, God makes a covenant with Abraham. The covenant between the two is a promise that God will give Abraham as many descendants as the stars. While Abraham assumed that the heir would be Eliezer of Damascus, God assured him that his heir would come from his own body. To have children during this time of the bible was considered a blessing and one would think it was quite expected for a married couple to have many children by the old age of Abraham and his wife, Sarah. Up until God made a promise with Abraham, he and Sarah seemed to accept the fact that they would never have biological children and had even considered who would be the heir of all that Abraham owned.
We can just imagine the surprise, joy and maybe even confusion that Abraham and Sarah felt of this promise God has made them. In their present life there were no children to be seen and yet, God promised the number of descendants would be uncountable. Have you ever had an experience like the one of this couple? God has made a promise to you for something wonderful but your current situation looks opposite of that promise? Maybe God promised you children but you don’t even have any dates lined up. Maybe God promised you a home of your own but you just recently got laid off from work.
We’ve seen this take place in another part of Genesis. In chapter 37, Abraham’s great grandson, Joseph has a prophetic dream from God of his brothers bowing before him. He told his brothers this dream and they found it absolutely absurd because why would the older brothers bow to the youngest brother? Full of envy and jealousy, Joseph’s brothers sold him off to slavery. Now how was God’s promise supposed to come to pass when his brothers not only rebuked it but sent him away to live a worse life. It seemed not only did the promise not come to pass but it was the cause of his troubles. Joseph had to feel the sting of betrayal from his brothers at 17 years old.
As you continue reading you’ll see the roads Abraham and Joseph took when their promise didn’t seem like it would come to pass. Abraham and Sarah had trouble in the beginning stages of their promise. While wondering how God’s promise was going to come to pass at her old age she decided to hatch her own plan. Have you ever gotten ahead of God and decided to “help” bring your promise to life? How did that go for you? For Sarah, her plan to have the child God promised included allowing her husband to sleep with her maiden, Hagar. Sarah’s plan was not instructions from God. She allowed her earthly desire to receive God’s spiritual promise to supersede her relationship with her husband. God specifically chose Abraham and Sarah to bring forth a nation. God only mentioned Abraham and Sarah, not Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. We must not allow the thought of the promise threaten our position in God. A child was brought forth through Hagar and along with it Sarah became despised in Hagar’s eyes.
Sarah’s plan worked flawlessly but with it came tension in her home and in her marriage. Where there was peace now there was contention between these three adults. Do you see how getting ahead of God can cause problems where there were none? Are you able to see how God does not need our assistance in handling the promises that He made? Rest assured, dear reader, if God made a promise He shall keep it. Yes, Sarah may have been anxious due to her old age and wanted to ensure a child is born. However, God knew Sarah’s age when He made the promise. He was not put off with her perceived physical limits or that she would only get older the longer the problem didn’t come to pass. 2 Peter 3:8 says, “But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” In other words, God is time! Don’t allow your promise to turn into a problem for you. Sarah and Abraham learned this lesson the hard way. However, they eventually learned from their mistakes and when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old they had the son God promised them.
Joseph on the other hand, decided to continue to trust God’s promise and this is made evident by all the favor Joseph got as he grew older. Even when he seemed to land in worse conditions, God’s hands were still on Joseph and His plan was still active in his life. Joseph did not become bitter at the circumstances he faced. Instead, he stayed close to God and excelled in everything he put his hands on. We even see how Joseph’s trust and love in God is so deep that he chose imprisonment over the temptation of lust. Sometimes we must go through a situation, season or circumstance before we see the fruition of God’s promise. Instead of tapping our feet and being impatient at the wait time make sure you are having a well time with God.
If Joseph only focused on the promise of his brothers bowing to him he would’ve missed the blessing he had at the opportunity to save his whole lineage during the time of the famine. Let’s take a moment to take this into consideration as well: sometimes our promises are much smaller than the rest of the plans God has for us. Joseph saved countless lives by listening to God and saving food supplies during the 7 years of abundance. Joseph saved his family and yes, his brothers did bow to him but an even greater thing took place as well. Because of Joseph moving his family to Goshen it allowed the lineage to grow in isolation away from Canaan (the Lord didn’t want them to marry due to possibility of assimilating to their customs and false gods) and it helped move forward the promise God made to Abraham. The ushering of Abraham’s lineage was continued through the work of his great grandson, Joseph. Joseph was the son of Jacob. Jacob was the son of Isaac. And Isaac was the son promised to Abraham and Sarah. Do you see how detailed God can be with us when we allow Him to have His way and trust Him. Remember to cherish His promise but do not covet it.
Let us leave you with a prayer:
Heavenly Father, we thank you for how you cherish each one of us day in and day out. We are grateful for the opportunity You give us to live daily. You do so much for us already and we are so thankful for the blessings You give us. We ask, Father, that You allow us to remember You at all times and not to put focus on when Your promises are coming to pass. We ask that you fortify our minds and allow us to not focus on time because You are time. There is no reason for us to be anxious as we wait. So we rebuke the feeling of anxiousness and impatience. We bind to our readers a strong sense of faith in You and courage to continue forward. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
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