The God of Promise: A Gift and a Test

Waiting on God

Waiting on God is a necessary part of being a disciple. Waiting involves praying, trusting and hoping and watching. When we wait in day to day life, living only in our selfish desires, we easily become impatient and irritable. Just observe the checkout at the grocery store or the waiting room at the doctor’s office.

But waiting on God is something different; something that is necessary for your spiritual health. And waiting does not imply doing nothing, but includes other spiritual activities that make the waiting productive and faith-filled. It was the early 20th century British evangelist G. Campbell Morgan who said:

“Waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not going to sleep. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort. Waiting for God means, first, activity under command; second, readiness for any new command that may come; third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given.”

But waiting is so contrary to our natures. It is the incubation for faith and dependence upon God. I was having a conversation with a friend recently and he was recounting some adversity he was going through and asked me about the “lesson” in it. I told him that sometimes the lesson is just to lean on the Lord. John 15:5 Jesus said: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Sometimes great spiritual lessons come with waiting on the Lord. Notice this in Abraham’s life.

Abraham learned to trust as He waited on the God of promise.

A lot has transpired since God called Abram to leave his native homeland of Ur. Genesis 12:4 records that Abram was just 75 years old when the Lord asked him to leave Haran and travel to Egypt. The events of Genesis 17 tell us that he was a bit older; that he was 99. During those 24 years many events took place.

For instance, in Genesis 16, we observed Sarai’s effort to speed things along by employing her maidservant Hagar, to become pregnant by Abraham and to fulfill her need for a child. She took matters into her own hand and obviously refused to wait on God any longer. She felt that God needed help or that may the Lord had forgotten about them. Abraham was at fault by complying with his wife’s wishes.

Much like when Adam listened to Eve and encountered disappointment, Abraham discovered the same lesson. Adversity would come to this family because of Sarai’s imprudence. Hagar became pregnant and bore Ishmael. This would lead to Sarai’s jealousy and Hagar’s banishment. But God was faithful to the maidservant from Egypt and provided for both her and her son. But the promise remained through God’s original plan, that entailed Isaac. This occured when Abraham was 86.

There’s a lesson for all of us in our walk of faith. We cannot listen to voices that would take us away from God’s will. We must act with self control, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 .

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

When we become hasty and impatient, refusing to wait on God, whether it be the acquisition of a spouse, a job, a child, an opportunity, anything that requires praying and waiting, we welcome adversity. But God’s plan is not thwarted.

But even though Sarah and Abraham brought on the unfortunate detour of their blessing with the birth of Ishmael, God remained faithful. Genesis 17:1 reads: “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,”

Abraham’s lack of faith did not diminish God’s faithfulness.

God changed Abram’s name to Abraham: “the father of many nations.” (17:5). God told him that the covenant He was making with Abraham was an everlasting covenant (17:7). And there would be a sign of such a covenant, that every male would be circumcised. (17:10). Isaac was promised the next year in Genesis 17:21 .

Genesis 17:21 (ESV)

21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

Ishmael, the child of Abraham and Hagar, would be blessed by God, but it would be Isaac that would fulfill the promise.

We read in Genesis 18:10 that Sarah would bring forth a son and she would laugh at the news. Genesis 18:10-12 (ESV)

Genesis 18:10–12 ESV

10 The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”

Meanwhile, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were filled with godless people. Lot, Abraham's nephew , lived in that area. So when God announced to Abraham His plan to judge that area and destroy those cities, Abraham was naturally perplexed. He was concerned for Lot and his family. Lot was his brother’s son and Abraham felt responsible for them.

So Abraham intercedes for his nephew’s town, stood before the Lord. The result of his prayers is found in chapter 19, where God rescues Lot and destroys Sodom for their immorality, along with Lot’s wife who failed to listen and obey.

And like the end of a long road of trial and error concerning Abraham and faith, we read of God’s faithfulness in Genesis 21:1-7

Genesis 21:1–7 ESV

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.”

Many, many times the Lord promised Abraham that He would come through. Just to list a few: Genesis 12:2; 15:5; 17:2, 5-7,16, 21; and 18:10. It goes to prove what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” God was faithful to Abraham and those who emulate his faith. Next we find that...

Abraham’s faith would be tested to make sure there were no idols present in his life.

In Genesis 22, we see that the boy Isaac has grown into an adolescent. Genesis 22:1-2

Genesis 22:1–2 ESV

1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

God would test Abraham and call upon him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. Now the task would be a three day journey to the place that God disclosed to Abraham. John Sailhamer states that verse one reveals the Lord’s intentions. He was proving or refining Abraham’s faith.

“The writer quickly allays any doubt about God’s real purpose. There is, then, no thought of an actual sacrifice of Isaac in the narrative, though within the narrative that, of course, was the only thought Abraham entertained.” (Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative, 177)

Isaac is expecting a lamb in Genesis 22:7-8 :

Genesis 22:7–8 ESV

7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

One commentator gives us insight into this type of offering.

“The burnt offering best gave expression to the sentiments of adoration and devotion, though they may not be excluded from the meal and peace offerings. In other words, sacrifice meant worship, which is a complex exercise of the soul. Such was Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of Isaac. The daily burnt offerings were intended to represent an unbroken course of adoration and devotion, to keep the right relations with the Deity.” (The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Volumes 1–5 (2. Expression of Adoration and Devotion)

And Abraham said in faith: “God will provide the lamb.” It is noteworthy here to mention that Abraham believed God and held that if this sacrificial act would be committed, God would have to raise Isaac from the dead. Abraham either believed that Isaac would be spared or that Isaac would be resurrected.

This all may seem foreign to us because of our Western culture based on personal liberties. But why did Abraham do this? Because He feared the Lord. The fear of God is an attitude of the heart, a desire to trust God and be obedient to Him regardless of the outcome. This is in contrast with the attitude of the culture which only sees God as a crutch, a self-help device, as Michael Horton writes about in his book Recovering our Sanity. Horton States:

“If God wants to have a supporting role, he needs to made sure that it’s to make us happy. He can empower, encourage, comfort, and inspire us in our life projects, but he doesn’t own us. We own ourselves. And if anyone is going to judge or save, we’ll be the ones to do it ourselves. No one’s going to tell me what I can do with my body or with my money, what to believe, or how I should live. It’s my car and I’m in the driver’s seat.” (Horton, 29).

And just as Abraham was to follow through with it, the angel called out in Genesis 22:12

Genesis 22:12 ESV

12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

God did what Abraham was saved from doing.

What God asked of Abraham (but provided an alternative), God Himself did in the sacrifice of His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Compare the story of Abraham and Isaac to Romans 8:31-32.

Romans 8:31–32 ESV

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

What God asked Abraham to do, and protected him from doing, God Himself did in offering up His one and only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. So the story of the sacrifice of Isaac is really a story about God’s love for Abraham and His provision, which is a foreshadowing of how God provided for us in the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus.

What is your response tot he gospel? God’s gift that cost Him the supreme object of His love, what is your response!?

No Greater Love

Maria Dyer was born in 1837 on the mission field in China where her parents were pioneer missionaries. Both her parents died when Maria was a little girl, and she was sent back to England to be raised by an uncle. The loss of her parents, however, did not deter her young heart from the importance of sharing the gospel. At age sixteen she, along with her sister, returned to China to work in a girl’s school as a missionary herself. Five years later, she married Hudson Taylor, a man well-known today for his life of ministry, faith, and sacrifice.

Hudson and Maria’s work was often criticized—even by other Christians. At one point Maria wrote, “As to the harsh judgings of the world, or the more painful misunderstandings of Christian brethren, I generally feel that the best plan is to go on with our work and leave God to vindicate our cause.” Of their nine children, only four survived to adulthood. Maria herself died of cholera when she was just forty-three. But she believed the cause was worthy of the sacrifice. On her grave marker these words were inscribed: “For her to live was Christ, and to die was gain.”

In a day when many are self-absorbed and care more about what they can get rather than what they can give, we need a renewal of sacrificial love. It was God’s love for us that sent Jesus into the world to die for our sins, and it is that kind of giving love that our world needs so greatly today. When we love God as we should, our interests fade as we magnify Him.