God is Worth the Wait

God is Worth the Wait
Genesis 21:1-7
June 28, 2020

Introduction

ILLUS – Some things in life are easy to wait for. . .

1. Waiting for God can be difficult as well.
2. While waiting for God to move in our lives, it is easy to get impatient or feel discouraged.
3. But God has given us His Word so that we may know how to wait for God without getting impatient or feeling discouraged.
4. Tonight, we are going to study a passage that will show us why God is worth it to wait and how to be at peace while waiting.

Genesis 21:1-7

I. God Has Not Forgotten You (1)

• It may seem like God has forgotten you, but He has not.
• In fact, there is a familiar pattern in the Bible regarding God’s promises.
• First, God gives a promise.
• Then the promise is followed by a divine delay.
• The purpose of the divine delay is to test the believer, to see if they will trust God and stand on the promises of God’s Word.
• In many ways, divine delays become opportunities or seasons of refinement so that believers will:
o Grow closer to God; and
o Become stronger in their faith.

A. God is watching over you
1. It had been 24 years and three months of waiting on God’s promises before Sarah conceived.
2. God had said on two separate occasions, just months before Sarah conceived, that she would have a son the same time next year.
a. First to Abraham in Genesis 17:21.

Genesis 17:21, But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.

b. Then to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18:10.

Genesis 18:10, He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.

3. “Then the LORD took note of Sarah”
a. “Took note of” means “watch over” or to “care for.”
b. “To help someone in a manner that shows concern” because they are in a “difficult circumstance.”
4. When God takes note of someone it means He is about to bring a great change in their life.

Exodus 2:23-25, Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.

APPL – If there ever was a time in recent history when God’s people needed to cry out to God it is now.
• Hatred has increased as love is growing cold.
• Lies are spreading like wildfire as truth is suppressed.
• Wickedness is applauded while righteousness is ridiculed.

2 Chronicles 7:14, “. . . if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (NIV)

a. God heard the sons of Israel’s cry and called Moses to confront Pharaoh and deliver Israel from slavery in Egypt.
b. When Pharaoh refused, God sent ten plagues upon Egypt, which left the empire devastated.
c. After the tenth plague, Pharaoh released Israel and God guided His people towards the Promised Land.

APPL – While waiting upon the Lord for a breakthrough, the silence and sense of divine inactivity can lead us to conclude that God has forgotten or is unwilling to act on our behalf.
• Nothing could be further from the truth.

Isaiah 49:14-16, But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.” Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.

• While waiting for God, we must remember that He has not forgotten us, He is watching over us.
• While waiting for God, we must stand on the promises found in God’s Word.
• Notice David’s example during a time in his life when he felt like God had forgotten him.

Psalm 13:1-2, 5-6, How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me.

APPL – David looked back on his life and remembered the faithfulness of God.
• If God was faithful in the past, then He will be faithful in our todays and tomorrows.
• God never changes.

Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

B. God will always make it good
1. “The LORD did for Sarah as He had promised.”
a. “LORD” – Yahweh, the promise making, promise keeping God.
b. “did for Sarah” – God did for Sarah what only God can do.

Genesis 18:14, Is anything too difficult for the LORD?

c. “as He had promised” – God kept His word.

Number 23:19, God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

2. Notice, the fulfillment of a 25-year-old promise is recorded in a couple of verses. Why?
a. Because God made the promise.
b. The outcome was never in question.

II. God’s Timing is Perfect (2)

ILLUS – Have you ever stressed out over a deadline, one that you thought was the ‘real’ deadline?

A. God’s time is the right time, all the time

ILLUS – God is eternal, so He is never late for an appointment.

1. Sarah conceived and bore a son at “the appointed time.”
2. Sarah was 90 years old. High risk pregnancies are no problem for God. He is the best physician.
3. Abraham was 100 years old; even better.
4. It was the appointed time. The right time.
5. God always keeps His sovereign appointments.
a. Jesus Christ came at the right time.

Romans 5:6, For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

b. And Jesus will return at the appointed time.

Mark 13:33, Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time is.

APPL – When it is time for God to move, watch and rejoice.

B. God is preparing us while we wait
1. God was waiting for Abraham and Sarah to be as good as dead.
a. That is what the Apostle Paul said.

Romans 4:19-21, And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform.

APPL – This is another key to the journey of faith. God is waiting for us to be “as good as dead.”
b. That is what everyone who heard this story had to conclude; it was all God’s doing.
2. But God had to work on Sarah first.
a. Sarah had given her maid, Hagar, into Abraham’s arms. (Gen. 16)
b. When she heard the Lord say that she would have a child a year later she laughed and then lied about laughing when the Lord questioned her.
3. We do not know when, but there came a point when even Sarah believed God was able to give her a son.

Hebrews 11:11, By faith even Sarah herself received the ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.

4. God not only changes our circumstances; He changes our hearts too.
a. He brings us to the end of ourselves.
b. Then God asks, “Will you trust Me?”

APPL – When we answer this question by faith, then we will never be the same again because the matter has been settled in our hearts.

Hudson Taylor, “Let us give up our work, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into God’s hand; and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about.”

III. God Will Never Disappoint You (3-7)

A. Abraham honored God with obedience
1. Abraham named his son “Isaac.” (3)
a. Not Terah, the name of his father.
b. Not Lot, his nephew’s name.
c. Nor Abraham Jr.
d. As an expression of faith, Abraham obeyed God and called his son Isaac, “laughter.”
e. Every time, Abraham, Sarah, or those who knew their story said “Isaac”, they would smile and remember that nothing is too difficult for God.
2. Then on the 8th day, Abraham circumcised Isaac, once again obeying God’s command so that Isaac may enjoy God’s covenant blessings. (4)
3. Abraham had waited 25 years for his promised son. (5)
a. Once the promise was fulfilled, Abraham honored God because He made it possible.
b. With great care Abraham obeyed God’s commands.
c. Abraham made sure that he was faithful with the gift that God had entrusted to him.

APPL – Here again is another faith principle here for us to remember.
• When God fulfills His promise and blesses us with a gift; we must realize it is also a sacred stewardship.
• Therefore, we must honor God by being faithful with what He has entrusted to us.

B. Sarah gave God the glory
1. Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me.” (6)
a. God did this for Sarah.
b. You can hear her heart rejoicing.
c. People now laughed with her not at her.
2. Think about this; not only did Sarah conceive and carry Isaac to term: (7)
a. Sarah was also able to nurse Isaac.
b. She asked, “Who would have said” such a thing?
o Not man.
o Only God.

Romans 10:11, Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.

Conclusion

• So, if Abraham and Sarah were with us now and we had the opportunity to ask them, “Was it worth the wait?”
• What do you think they would say?
• I am sure they would laugh and say, “YES!”

Psalm 27:14, Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the LORD.