Divine Timing: The Promise Comes To Pass!

Today, we are in chapter 21 of the “From Dust to Life Series” in Genesis. What we will see in this passage is the end of the 25-year long wait for God’s covenant promise to Abraham and Sarah. As we have said earlier in this series: God is never too late and He’s never too early. Though sometimes \difficult to believe, God is always right on time.

Let’s turn to Genesis 21. We’ll be reading from the English Standard Version.

1 The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” 8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.b 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt (ESV).

What can we perhaps see in Abraham and Sarah’s journey of faith?

? Preparation for the Promise

? A Precise Moment in Time

? A Painful Process

? God’s Unfailing Provision

Let’s look at the first point:

1. Preparation for the Promise

25 years earlier, God had called Abraham to leave behind practically everything in his life, everything that represented security. He got up and left his home country, his friends, his relatives, and everything that was familiar to him. God called him to leave these things behind and to just go. Abraham had no idea where, but God told him, “I will show you.” Does it ever seem that just as we get comfortable in a city, in a neighborhood, in a workplace, God does something new just to shake things up?

God’s vision for Abraham's life was to make his name great. He told Abraham to leave his home country, that he would become a great nation, and that all the nations through him would be blessed. We don’t know what Abraham was thinking when God came to him but we do know that he obeyed God by faith, and by moving forward he would discover God’s will.

During the majority of Abraham’s journey, however, God was quiet. Sarah was also very much involved as a recipient of the promised child and during their walk of faith, they experienced difficulties, despair, trauma, heartache, victories and failures. Through it all, Abraham trusted God and called on His name.