Bible Reading Blog
“The Timeline is Too Long”
Categories: Congregational Bible ReadingBIBLE READING: Genesis 16-17
God made promises of a future heir (Genesis 15.4), but Abram and Sarai were getting old. Abram was 75 when God called him, and 10 years had passed since then (Genesis 16.3). Was he supposed to just keep waiting? What needed to happen next?
There was no immediate revelation from God. Sarai had determined she could not bear children (Genesis 16.2) and Abram agreed (Genesis 17.17). After all, she was 90 years old. God’s promise to Abram was that a son would come through him (Genesis 15.1-4), so maybe it wasn’t supposed to be Sarai. They needed to explore other options if God’s plan would be fulfilled.
Abram listened to Sarai and had a child with her servant (Genesis 16.2). Although Sarai wasn’t happy about it, for 13 years it appeared this was the path forward for God’s plan. But then God showed up again and promised Abram a son through Sarai (Genesis 17.19). Abram and Sarai laughed (Genesis 17.17; 18.12); but God was serious (Genesis 18.12), and in time Isaac was born.
God’s timing has always caused difficulty for people. A man born crippled wasn’t healed for 38 years (John 5.1-8). Rachel despaired as she was barren 14 years (Genesis 30.1). God’s people were enslaved for 400 years in Egypt. Maybe you’ve been asking God to do something in your life for weeks, months, even years with no obvious response. At this point many people give up or pursue other options because, surely this can’t be the way.
I’m not saying we should just sit around doing nothing and expect God to do something. But we do need to learn to wait on the Lord. When things take longer than expected we tend to get off-script. Stories like this remind us that God’s timeline is often very different than our own, but his promises are always sure. Abram and Sarai weren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. They made foolish choices at times. Their impatience and fears sometimes put them in difficult circumstances. But they didn’t just sit around and do nothing. They did their best to walk with the Lord in the way they thought was most pleasing as they waited on the Lord.
Running the race with endurance means we must not only develop long term thinking, but patience in the work of God in our lives. As we walk by faith, the next step may be unclear. Really, we will never see the future with clarity. But having faith doesn’t mean we have it figured out or that we will always get it right. What it does mean is we are open to what his word says and diligent to follow where it leads. There will always be times when we know the right thing to do. Faith is defined in these moments.
Much of our anxiety comes from what we can’t control or what might happen. God wants us to leave that alone, trust in him, and do what we know is right. Don’t let the timeline bother you; God is working all things together for good, for those who love him according to his purpose (Romans 8.28)
