Waiting

 A Series on Living by Faith
(Use the link below to read the verses.)
Genesis 17:15-19; Genesis 18:10-14; Hebrews 11:11-13

 [Hebrews 11 is a recounting of the Heroes of the Faith. Even though they never saw what they had been promised, each person is commended for living “by faith”. At the end of these commendations, Hebrews 12 tells us, “Therefore, because you are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses… throw off sin; run with perseverance; fix your eyes on Jesus”. In other words, live “by faith”.]

  

It feels like I spend a lot of my time waiting. I wait for my computer to respond. I wait on hold to be transferred while the voice tells me, “due to the pandemic, wait times are longer than normal”. I wait in line at the grocery store; at the McDonalds drive through; at the traffic light. Nothing seems to happen when I want it to happen… so I wait.

 

Waiting! We don’t like it, but it’s a part of everyday life. We get impatient and we want to take control. We want to make things happen. We want to be in charge.

 

Despite the Lord’s promise for descendants to fill the Promised Land, Abraham and Sarah didn’t have any children for decades. Like most of us who don’t get what we want when we want it, they decided to take things into their own hands by having a child with their servant Hagar. Bad idea!

 

As a result, Abraham and Sarah grew tired of waiting for the Lord. So much so that that they laughed at the Lord’s promise of a son.

 

¹⁶ I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”  Genesis 17 NIV

 

¹⁰ Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

¹² So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”                Genesis 18 NIV

 

And yet, in Hebrews we read that Sarah gave birth to Isaac, “by faith”.

 

¹¹ 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.            NIV

 

So if you ever find yourself in a situation where you are tired of waiting… then remember Sarah. Remember too that the Lord is faithful, and then… wait some more!

Why? Because sometimes living by faith means waiting by faith.

 

¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.   Hebrews 11 NIV

 

Here are a couple of other cute pictures that I found that I just had to add.