Joy in God’s Timing versus Sorrow in Man’s Timing
“God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?” Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”” (Genesis 17:15-21 WEB)
Both Abraham and Sarah laughed when they heard about God’s promise of a child that would come from their own body.
Isaac means “laugh”.
They laughed at how ridiculous the idea sounded in the natural, and yet God wanted them to laugh with joy from having a child of their own—a fulfillment of their greatest desire.
If 100 year old Abraham and 90 year old Sarah could have a son, then there’s no such things as ‘too late’ for you.
Our God is the one who even raises the dead back to life.
The everlasting covenant is made with the son of the promise and not the son of the flesh.
Sarah is a picture of Grace, while Hagar is a picture of the Law.
God wants our fruits to come as a result of receiving His Grace, not by the works of the Law.
Ishmael was a product of the flesh—to put it bluntly, he was the result of Abraham and Sarah’s bad decision.
His existence would be a stumbling block for the descendants of Isaac.
However, because Abraham cried out for Ishmael to be blessed, God graciously blessed Ishmael and his descendants too, but without an eternal covenant.
There was a “set time” for Isaac’s birth. If Abraham and Sarah had just prayed and waited for Yahweh’s clear instruction about the promised child, all the unnecessary drama about Hagar and Ishmael wouldn’t have happened.
We must trust in God’s appointed time and resist the urge to act by the flesh. The works of the flesh is about man’s timing, but faith in God is trusting in His perfect timing.
“When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money; every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the same day both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised. All the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.” (Genesis 17:22-27 WEB)
Abraham was prompt in obeying Yahweh God’s instruction. He circumcised every male in his household “in the same day”.
When God gives us clear instructions, there’s no time to procrastinate.
When He shares something unclear to you, wait until He reveals more in a clearer way. This will prevent Ishmael kind of fleshly mistakes.
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