Can't Wait

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Read: Genesis 16:1-9

Abram looking at the stars - Artist unknown

TO CHEW ON: “'Your slave is in your hands,' Abram said. 'Do with her whatever you think best.'” Genesis 16:6

What promises had God given Abram?

• Genesis 12:2

• Genesis 15:5

If Abram was to be a nation and have as many children as there are stars, he would first need at least one child. But year followed year and still Abram and Sarai had no children. They were old when they first moved. Now they were very old.

We can’t wait any longer. God needs help with this, thought Sarai. So she gave her servant Hagar to Abram to have a baby for her. Though this was a legal thing to do at that time and place, it was not God’s way.

Hagar got pregnant. But now she scorned Sarai. Sarai blamed Abram. Abram told Sarai to do as she liked with Hagar. So Sarai sent Hagar away into the desert.

An angel comforted Hagar. He told her she would have a son, Ishmael, but he wouldn’t get along with his brothers. And the angel told Hagar to go back to Abram and Sarai.

What the angel said to Hagar about Ishmael came true. Ishmael became the father of the Arab nations. Through the centuries they have fought with the Jews, who are the descendants of the child Abram and Sarai did finally have. How much better if Sarai would have waited for God to give Abram and her the child He had promised.

PRAYER: Dear God, help me always to wait for Your timing. Amen.

MORE: The Impatient Way

We too want things sooner rather than later. Which actions below may show impatience?

1. Buy lottery tickets to get rich.
2. Go to school to get an education.
3. Starve to lose weight
4. Borrow money so you can buy what you want now.
5. Get a job and save your money.
6. Use a credit card to buy things you don’t have cash to pay for.
7. Eat a little less at meals to lose weight.

Answers

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.