“What God does in us as we wait is just as important as what we’re waiting for.”
Sermon Title: RESTING ON GOD’S TIMING
Scripture Text: GENESIS 16 & 18
Sermon Series: Abraham: Journey of Faith
Sermon Notes:
GENESIS 18:9-15 NIV
9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said.
10 Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
11 Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
13 Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’
14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.”
15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
GENESIS 11:29-30 NIV
29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
GENESIS 12:1-3 NIV
1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
2 I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Waiting is our destiny. As creatures who cannot by themselves bring about what they hope for, we wait in the darkness for a flame we cannot light. We wait in fear for a happy ending that we cannot write. We wait for a ‘not yet’ that feels like a ‘not ever.’ — Lewis B. Smedes
“What God does in us as we wait is just as important as what we’re waiting for.”
I. WHEN SARAH WENT AHEAD OF GOD
– GENESIS 16
GENESIS 16:1-2 NIV
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar;
2 so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
“Waiting reminds us that we are not in charge.”
“God’s work, done God’s way, will never lack God’s supply.” — J. Hudson Taylor
PHILIPPIANS 4:6 NIV
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
II. WHEN SARAH LAUGHED
– GENESIS 18
GENESIS 18:9-15 NIV
9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said.
10 Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
11 Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
13 Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’
14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.”
HEBREWS 11:11 ESV
11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
“When it comes to our journey of faith, we are participants, not spectators.”
“Walking with God is taking one step in front of the other in the same direction over time.”
GENESIS 21:1-3,6 NIV
1 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.
2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”