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God's Way, God's TimeBy
Wayne Dailey, | |
And the Lord
visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord
did unto Sarah as He had spoken. Genesis 21:1 |
| This is speaking about the birth of Isaac. What do you think that day might have really
been like when Isaac was born? And after
such a long wait! It must have been a very
interesting day and a very strange day for Sarah and Abraham. Many things had happened during those twenty five years since God
had told Abraham of his promised son. So
much was hinged upon the fact that he would have a child through Sarah, who had
been barren all those years. And now, up
there at 90 years old, she gave birth to this promised child! God acted: He visited Sarah and worked a miracle
in her life – in His set time. We can learn a lot about promises by looking at Abraham and at his life. One thing, this proves a point: if God makes a promise, and you’re
willing to hold fast, embracing it and believing it, God will bring it to pass.
It doesn’t matter how long it takes. God will do what He plans and purposes
to do. Everything started out with Abraham receiving a great promise from
God: Genesis 12:1–3 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a
land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will
bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will
bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall
all families of the earth be blessed. This started a string of promises, a string of very far-reaching
promises: It’s a great thought, a great thing. Was Abraham crazy? No, he heard from God and he believed God. It just took that promise – and a faithful man
who would believe it – for God to bring it to pass. Now, think about Isaac: here’s a child brought into the world who
would be so important. But he’s not the
only child to be born who would have an important purpose for his life. Adam and Eve also had been told of a Child who
would have a very important purpose: Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise his heel. This is speaking of the promise of Jesus. Eve bore a righteous seed unto God when Seth
was born. But he wasn’t the answer to what
God had said; only temporarily, just a part of the promise that would come through
Jesus. All these promises fall in line.
OTHERS BORN WITH A GREAT PURPOSE Think about Jeremiah: he wasn’t just a prophet. He was a timely prophet, one who came right on
time – God’s time. Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew
thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained
thee a prophet unto the nations. And, what about Elizabeth and the child that God gave her? Her son John was another ordained of God from
his very conception: Luke 1:13–17 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias:
for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou
shalt call his name John. And thou shalt
have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the
Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with
the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of THE PROMISE GOES
ON Now, Isaac is a type of Christ, a perfect type of Christ. And, as such, it’s important to note that it
is going to be through his lineage that the promises to Abraham will come forth.
Try to fathom the promise of God in bringing Isaac into the world.
Only in the wisdom of God would you find
a family such as Abraham’s family. Everything was tied to the fact that Abraham
must needs have a child through Sarah. So the promise was first given to Abraham. But then, the promise had to take shape and direction.
Abraham believed, and thus the promise
could go on to the next generation. This promised son has to grow up, get married
and have a son, too. For the promise to
continue that God made Isaac, he would have to have a son. That was the course it would take. As we read the Word we see where, when the right time came, Isaac
married Rebekah – and, through her, they had twins. Now there’s another generation added to Abraham’s
family. We see these twins, and now we’re
stuck! Christ can’t come through both of
these boys. So God made a choice before
these twins were born, when they were struggling in the womb: Genesis 25:22,23 And the children struggled together within
her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in
thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the
one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve
the younger. Two nations are in your womb. These twin boys, Jacob and Esau, were born to
Isaac and Rebekah. God chose Jacob, but
Esau was a profane person. Esau wasn’t
spiritual. He wasn’t one who loved God
like one should love God. There are those who take the things which are spiritual and holy
and treat them as something profane, some evil and worthless . . . and this is just what Esau did. Hebrews 12:16,17 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane
person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would
have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with tears. Esau sold his birthright for a morsel of food. That’s profane. He was hungry one day, but it cost him something
to satisfy that hunger. It cost him something
more than just the fact that he sold his birthright. It set the tenor in his life. He wasn’t the type of person that one would look
at and say, I would like to be an Esau. Did you ever hear anybody say that? OBEDIENCE IS
ESSENTIAL Genesis 21:4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being
eight days old, as God had commanded him. Think about things like this: if God said to do it on the eighth
day, would it be all right to do it on the seventh? Or maybe wait until the ninth? Listen, it’s always best to be obedient doing
just as you are told to do. There are exceptions to some rules – and there are those who always
look for exceptions, always look for a way to do things their way. Some would say, a day earlier won’t hurt, neither would a day later do any harm. What if it was impossible to do it on the eighth day? Maybe there would be a special case where it
was impossible – but should that become the rule? Or should it be the exception? The thief didn’t come down from the cross and get baptized after
he believed on Jesus. Yet the Word would
teach us to be baptized after we have believed – see Matthew 28:19. The man on the cross wasn’t
the rule. He was the exception. GOD’S PROMISES
ARE SURE Genesis 21:7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham,
that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. When God made this faithful promise to Abraham – that Sarah was going
to have this child – it happened just as He had said. Who would have ever thought that, after all those
years, Sarah would be holding a little infant in her arms, her own son! Think of the miracle that would have to take
place for a frail old woman to have her youth renewed and be enabled to conceive
and have a child! Strange as it might sound, God brought it to pass. It certainly took a great creative miracle for
God to remake Sarah’s body so she would have all it would take to conceive and
bring forth a child: all of those things would have been long gone. This child was a child of promise, a promise fulfilled at this point
– yet a promise that reaches ahead over the ages. We should always bear in our mind, no matter what it looks like,
our God is still able. Promises are something,
then, that are great. And we’ve got to
learn as we walk along in this life to stand on the promises of God. I’m a person who’s prone to believe what God tells me. It’s just my nature. I believe what God said, and when He promises
something I embrace that promise. I hold
on to it, wait and pray, doing what God tells me to do – knowing that one day
I will see that promise fulfilled. God makes long range promises and He makes short range promises.
Some promises we have to patiently wait for,
while others are fulfilled rather quickly. God is still working through His promise to Abraham. Through that promise Christ came, the promised
seed who would be the Saviour of the world. One thing we know, all of those things that have been promised will
be fulfilled. What God spoke will always
come to pass – in His time. Think big in
your heart, and try to span the plan of God with your eyes and through the hearing
of His Word. See that God has it all planned
out from before the foundation of the world. And He is carrying it out day by day. Genesis 21:8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham
made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. How important this day really was. Sarah has finished her job and Abraham made a
great feast. There’s Abraham and all of
those who were around him – all those servants in his household. SOMETIMES FAITH REQUIRES LETTING
GO Now he has two sons: Ishmael and young Isaac. I smell trouble. Abraham has two sons: one is Sarah’s son, and
the other is Hagar’s son. This is not going
to work. This is not going to work out.
We have to take this thought and deal with
it. Genesis 21:9–11 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian,
which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this
bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my
son, even with Isaac. And the thing was
very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son. Ishmael was Abraham’s son, too. And here Sarah was telling him to cast out his
son whom he loved. Wouldn’t you love your
son? This wasn’t easy for Abraham to deal
with. Genesis 21:12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be
grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all
that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy
seed be called. This was unusual, for God to tell someone to do what his wife told
him to do. God told him not to let it be
grievous in his sight, but to hearken unto what Sarah had said to him. Abraham had to take it to heart that he had to
just let Ishmael go with his mother. Here’s another separation in Abraham’s life.
He left his country and kindred, then his nephew
Genesis 21:13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will
I make a nation, because he is thy seed. So, through his son, Ishmael, God would make a nation. This, too, would be part of God making Abraham
father of many nations. Sometimes you find yourself between a rock and a hard place, where
there’s something you have to do that’s not easy, something that will affect you.
How do you deal with such a place? How do you obey when hard times are upon you,
and there are some difficult things you have to obey God in? Genesis 21:14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning,
and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her
shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in
the wilderness of Beersheba. This was grievous for Abraham to have to do. This wasn’t easy, but God told him to do it –
so he did. He didn’t do it because Sarah
had told him to do it. He did it because
God had told him to do it. God knew what
was best here for Abraham to do. Ishmael
wasn’t going to be an heir, and if he stayed he would just be a source of problems.
Genesis 21:15,16 And the water was spent in the bottle, and
she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat her down over against him
a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of
the child. And she sat over against him,
and lift up her voice, and wept. Here we find the water is gone and they’re wandering out there in
the wilderness. Does this sound right?
GOD WORKS ALL THINGS FOR
GOOD The question is this: if God told Abraham to do something, wouldn’t
He be prepared to deal with the situation with him? And wouldn’t God take care of the details concerning
what He told Abraham to do? Genesis 21:17,18 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the
angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee,
Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the
voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine
hand; for I will make him a great nation. Hagar and Ishmael were cast upon the Lord. It wasn’t like it was doomsday for them. It was a separation that may have been grievous,
but God heard Ishmael crying. And, in the midst of all this, there is a promise
made, that of Ishmael God would make a great nation. Genesis 21:19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well
of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
Hagar was so taken up with her sorrow that she never saw that well
until God brought it to her attention. She was led in the right path. God had led her to water. Yes, God was with them; He didn’t desert them.
Genesis 21:20,21 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and
dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and
his mother took him a wife out of the We look at this and wonder if it would have been better if Ishmael
had never been born. But everything seems
to fit together. Could God have had His
hand in all of this, though he would not be part of the blessing that was to come
through Isaac? In this light, we could think that maybe some of the things we have
to do which may seem hard and grievous to us could actually work good for us.
Some people, if they are asked to surrender
up something that they’re clinging to, it is grievous to them: but if God says
to do something, we want to be ready to do it. BEING QUICK TO
OBEY God directed Abraham’s heart. Though it may have started with Sarah, it ended
up with God – and the conclusion was that Abraham was faithful and obedient, not
worrying about the cost. God told him not
to let it be grievous. How do stop that
hard thing you’re facing from being grievous to you? Well, if it’s God telling you not to let it be
grievous then, I suppose, God would take the grief away as you obeyed His voice.
And I don’t believe that after Abraham obeyed and did as God told
him to do that we would find him bemoaning himself every day about it. I believe he would have done what God said to
do, and God would have taken that out of his heart so it would not have troubled
him. Instead of getting all bogged down every time we’re asked to obey
in something new, instead of getting all bent out of shape, we need to be more
like Abraham in our obedience. When God
tells us to do something, we ought to be that obedient vessel, quick to say, Yes, Lord, I’ll do whatever You want me to
do. We have seen that Abraham was an obedient vessel – an example to
us all about what it is to be obedient to the Lord in all things. |