Genesis 21:1-7
Verse 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
This is a story all of us should be able to see the greatness of God in, and yet there are details which reveal more of His precision in what He does. Because this story is so familiar, we tend to read it without paying much attention to what it all meant. A couple who had been married for probably close to 70 years hadn’t had a child. To not have a child in that day was considered a curse from God, a sign that He didn’t want your family line to continue. That wasn’t necessarily true, but that is what many believed.
This explains why Abraham was so frustrated with God when He kept saying they would have a son. God had had 70 years to prove Himself by keeping His promise and here Abraham was nearing a hundred years old and had yet to see the promise. And at least 10 years before the time in our reading today, Abraham had tried to make things happen and that hadn’t turned out to be a blessing.
A woman of Sarah’s age was not expected to have a child and if we asked most people that age they would tell us they wouldn’t want to start a family at that age. Kids take a lot of energy! There are so many reason most wouldn’t want to become parents at the age of 90 (Sarah’s age) and 100 (Abraham’s age) but this couple were thrilled. They had been waiting a lifetime for this.
But if God loved this couple, why did He make them wait so long? Because the birth needed to fit into His timeline. This story is one of many in the Bible where things didn’t make human sense but fit perfectly in how God viewed things on earth. God isn’t stuck looking at things in the small scope of what we can see happening. If Isaac hadn’t been born so late in Abraham and Sarah’s life, he couldn’t have had Jacob in the timeframe he had him.
God also needed Isaac to be raised by parents who had learned their lesson about trusting God with their safety and provisions. It wasn’t that they had learned everything they needed but some of what they needed to learn included Isaac.
Making It Personal
Have you ever wondered why something wasn’t happening when you wanted it to, only to realize later how if it had come when you wanted, it wouldn’t have been as good as it turned out as? Do you want God’s timing over your own? What do you need to submit to His timing?
Making It Personal Kids
Do you like to get what you want, when you want it? Why do you think your timing is best? Why should God’s time be best?
Closing Prayer
Father, we often forget that You are outside of time and therefore know everything from beginning to end and so know what needs to happen when. Please help us desire Your time over our own. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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