"And Sarai said to Abram, 'Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai." (Genesis 16:2)
Sometimes God is late. Well, he's not late, we just think he is. Many people in the Bible & in history have assumed that God has been late, when really he is just on time. God's ways are not our ways, neither are his thoughts our thoughts. We may think that God is late or delayed but from his perspective, he is right on time. Lazarus' sisters thought that Jesus was late when they let their brother die by delaying to come while he was still sick. Jesus was right on time. He allowed Lazarus to die so that he would be glorified in his resurrection.
God called Abraham to leave his county at age 75. He told him that he would make him into a great nation. In order to be a great nation there is one essential element, a son. You have to have kids to have a nation come from you. Abraham is now 86 and has no son. Eleven years ago God promised that Abraham would have descendents that would outnumber the stars but he doesn't even have one descendent. God was late. Or at least that's what Sarah & Abraham thought.
Sarah becomes impatient with God's timing & gives her servant to Abraham to have a child through her. This was not God's plan. Ishmael is born. This Ismael is the same person that Muslims look to as the father of their religion. This decision by Abraham & Sarah to act in God's place (because God was taking too long to fulfill his promise) has huge repercussions. Whole nations have fought for centuries because of this act.
God does deliver on his promise but not until another 13 years, when Abraham is 99. Isaac is born & it is his family, his line that God's chosen people come from.
In the fulness of time, Christ came into the world to save sinners. God's timing is never wrong. If we think it is, it's us who need to change, not him.
When in your life has it seemed that God has delayed? Could it be the delay of God is actually for our benefit, not for our harm? Could it be that the delay of God is for his glory in our lives that would never come if we rushed his plan?
My parents always told me growing up, "You never lose when you wait on God." What is it that you think God is delayed about? How can we adjust our perspective to line up more with his? How can we trust him that his timing is infinitely better than ours?
"He has made everything beautiful in his time." Ecclesiastes 3:11
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