Dec. 5 (Day 7)

Read Gen. 21:1-7

What good news! Many of us have heard this story many times throughout the years, so resist the urge to take this miracle lightly. Abraham and Sarah’s crib was 25 years in the making! God promised Abram (Abraham) in Genesis 12 that He’d make him a great nation, and now in Genesis 21, God fulfilled that promise. Not only did Abraham and Sarah wait 25 years for the fulfillment of this promise, but this promise came at the latter half of their lives. Abraham is 100 years old and Sarah is 90 in Genesis 21, when Isaac is born. What an unbelievable thing that God would bless them with a child together! By the time God promised to give them a child, Abraham and Sarah had already spent decades longing for a child.

Can you even imagine what it would be like to wait this long for something? We get grumpy when we have to wait for our Instagram feed to refresh, or when we actually have to WAIT in the McDonald’s drive-thru lane. To be fair, we often lose our patience in these situations because an organization promised us speed, and we feel that they’re not holding up their end of the bargain. But God doesn’t work like that. We know that God is perfect and that everything He does has a purpose that’s in line with His perfect will, so when things take longer than we’d like, we can rest knowing that the timing is a part of His plan.

In Abraham’s case, the journey between the promise of a baby and Isaac's birth was long and difficult, but God used this period of waiting to develop Abraham’s faith and ability to trust Him. Sometimes when we pray, we want God to deliver promises like McDonald’s (immediately and exactly as we ordered)! However, what if God doesn’t give us what we want when we want it, because He knows that what He has planned is more mysterious, better planned and more beautiful than we could imagine?

Let Isaac’s crib remind you that 1) God always keeps His promises and 2) the waiting and the journey are part of God’s plan. With God, the waiting is not in vain. He will use it for our good! Do you believe that?

--What is the longest you’ve ever had to wait for something and what was that period of waiting like?

--What happens when someone doesn’t follow through on a promise?

--How are you embracing the journey God is leading you on?