Reflections in Genesis: Is God faithful in the waiting? 

Growing up in the frigid Midwest, my declaration was consistent: one day I’ll move somewhere warmer. But the realities and complications of moving away from family kept me close. Cold weather seasons were all I knew.

So after my husband and I settled into our first home with all three babies, he asked my thoughts on moving across the country. “Don’t you want palm trees instead of pine trees?” he coaxed. No. No I did not. 

How could I possibly want to move now, to uproot our lives and start over? Now? I had long given up my dream of moving somewhere warm.

Maybe we all relate to the surrender of dreams after waiting too long. Lord, I finally like this job, and now you want me to switch? I’m finally settled in this house, and now you want us to relocate?

Perhaps this is the premise underlying the story of Abraham and Sarah when promised a son of their own. 

“Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?… Oh that Ishmael might live before you!’” (Genesis 17:17-18). Sarah responds similarly, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” (Genesis 18:12). 

Ninety years with no conception. Thirteen years of believing Ishmael, the son of Sarah’s servant, would be their sole heir. Dreams of their own son would have come and gone. “Now we’re starting over?” 

While God had a specific call on Abraham’s life, his story shows God will deliver on his promises. God will get us to the place foretold. But as a mountain peak is accessible by multiple trailheads, the journey the Lord takes us on is intentional. Not only are his ways better, but his route is purposeful, too.  

Original Intent
Psalm 139 teaches our days are written even before we’re born [1]. We have purpose before we’re created, good works prepared in advance for us to do [2]. But sometimes, those “good things” are written on page 600 of our book instead of page 10, like we may prefer. Such was Abraham. 

In God’s first calling over his life, Abraham was already 75 years old. But God always planned to use him. He always planned for Sarah to be a mother in her old age. It just didn’t happen early on.

In his sovereignty and rule, the Lord knows all things at all times. He already has plans for our lives. Our circumstances have purpose before seasons of waiting begin.

We Jump Course 
But after years of waiting, we start to question our direction, our purpose, our route. Maybe I misheard God, maybe I misread his Word. Maybe Abraham believed the child of promise would be his son, but not by his wife. 

Like Sarah and Abraham got pregnant through Hagar, albeit innocently, we also can attempt to force God’s hand in expediting desirable circumstances. It can be difficult to discern between waiting on the Lord and taking appropriate, necessary steps. We learn much as we go.

But fundamentally, we know God’s will for our lives is sanctification [3]. He cares more for our hearts than for our deeds, and sometimes, the route he’s chosen is purposeful to weed out the sin and all entangling us. Often, that’s not our priority.

Everything Through Jesus
God deliberately allowed Sarah to become pregnant with the promised child when her womb was declared “dead” [4]. We know him as Isaac, and we know the ultimate promised child who came from his lineage – Jesus. 

For the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac is really about another father, another supernatural birth, another son of promise. God was foreshadowing the Messiah, Savior for all mankind. And he was launching a family line to include the full spectrum of believers in the Church.

Sometimes we won’t know, understand, or enjoy the timing and journey the Lord takes us on. And that’s okay. Even Jesus cried out asking if there was possibly any other way for our salvation. Can’t we offer another route?

But there was none. And Jesus continued anyway.

If God created us, knowing in advance the cost of salvation and the “cost,” if it were so, of our sanctification, then we can confidently sink into the arms of him who loves us. His routes are never careless. 

In Community
While we wait for the day of no more waiting, we find encouragement in knowing God works for the good of those who love him [5]. Our stories aren’t all about us either. They’re intricately woven together among all people the Lord has created. 

Second Corinthians reminds us of our ability “to comfort those who are in any affliction” because we’ve been comforted by the Lord [6]. A deeply compassionate friend of mine embodies this best. After losing her father to suicide, she prayed, “Lord, if anyone else has to go through something like this, put them in my path.”

What an example to copy. 

Delayed Dreams to Reality
God never promised me relocation to a warmer climate. Yet in the summer of 2020, we moved. Palm trees replaced pine trees. The Lord has already revealed mercy and kindness in his timing, and the rest of the story, I imagine, I’ll learn when we get to Heaven. 

Still, the promise is never in our dreams or goals. Rather, the promise has always been about the Son – the one foretold, born by Spirit, crucified, and resurrected. The One yet to return and guaranteed to triumph. He’s coming back, and we can be sure – the timing will be perfect.

To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. – 1 Timothy 1:17

[1] Psalm 139:16
[2] Ephesians 2:10
[3] 1 Thess 4:3, 5:23
[4] Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. (Romans 4:19 NIV)
[5] Romans 8:28
[6] 2 Corinthians 1:3-4