Daily Thought

Today’s thought from Genesis 16-22

 

Abram becomes Abraham, Sarai becomes Sarah, Lot flees Sodom, his wife turns to salt, Abraham receives the covenant promise, Battles are fought, Ishmael is born, circumcision is given as a covenant sign, Isaac is born, and Hagar is sent away.

When Chapter 16 opens, Abram is in his seventy’s., 4 chapters later he is a hundred years old.  Things that were promised to Abram when he was in his seventies were not yet beginning to be accomplished until he reached the ripe old age of 100.  God’s promises are guaranteed, but unlike FedEx they may not get their overnight.  If God makes you a promise, believe it, and be patient, it is going to be fulfilled, in His time.  God’s promise to Abraham to give him a son didn’t happen fast enough for Abraham and Sarah and so they took the matter into their own hands.  There was suffering for many generations as a result of their impatience.  God’s plan delivered in God’s time is awesome, rushed it is no longer His plan and the consequences are our own.  God calls us to do many wonderful things, he leads us in many directions, often times His leading has an end goal that is in sight and yet we still try and run ahead of Him to get their first.  If God is perfect (and I believe he is) then by default so is His plan.  When the world looks at us and says, your not ambitious enough, your not doing enough, you could do this if you just compromise this, we have to ask ourselves what plan is about to be implemented.  If you know what God has called you to do, and you are confident of that call, then stay that course, let the world deride as they will, waiting on the Lord is one pause that is without exception the right one to make.  Even though Abraham temporarily attempted to derail God’s plan, Abrahams overriding faithfulness, and God’s profound Grace have created a story, a relationship that has endured thousands of years.  Our blunders do not eliminate God’s ability to use us in meaningful and significant ways, but once again it is in His time.

 

Be faithful and patient as you wait upon the Lord.

Rob