More than a century ago in Scotland, a father worked and saved to buy tickets to move his wife and nine children to America. A week before they were to sail, a dog bit one of his sons. Fearing rabies, the doctor quarantined the whole family for fourteen days. They missed their trip, and the ship sailed without them.
The father was mad at God. Five days later, they heard the news: The ship they had planned to travel on, theย Titanic, had sunkโ1,500 passengers had died. The father thanked God for His providence and thanked the dog for biting his son.
God’s delays are not God’s denials. In Genesis 12, God gave Abraham a promise: “I will make you a great nation” (v. 2). And He repeated that promise in Genesis 13, 15, and 17. But from the time God first gave the promise until it was fulfilled was a very long time.
I find that is often the case, and it bothers some of us. We read God’s promises, or we feel He’s made a promise to us, but experience a long period of waiting. We can find ourselves wondering, “God, what did I do wrong? What’s the problem here?” And then, in God’s perfect time, it happens.
In Genesis 21, we meet Abraham and Sarah’s son, Isaac. “And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken” (v.1). I love that verse. It happened just as God promised.
Why is there so often a lag between promise and fulfillment? For one thing, it’s much more dramatic when the fulfillment comes. But more importantly, it’s how we walk by faith. “Do you want to become a person of faith? Okay, here’s a promise.”
Like Abraham, you might have to wait twenty-five yearsโor longer. If you’re walking down a road and can see where you’re going, you’re living by sight and not by faith. But if you have only a promise, and can’t see where you’re going, that’s when faith kicks in.
The waiting dragged on till Abraham was one hundred years old. He might have thought, “What’s the point of having a baby? I won’t live to see him turn two!” But at exactly the perfect time, Isaac was born. “And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to himโwhom Sarah bore to himโIsaac” (v. 3).
Did you know the name Isaac means laughter? It was hilarious because God took two people you’d never think could have a childโand they had a child. A ninety-year-old woman rocking her new baby must have been quite a sight.
“Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born” (v. 5). Abraham was one hundred, and Sarah was ninety. God keeps bringing up Abraham’s age to show that this was impossible by human standards. But there’s nothing too difficult for God.
Are you facing something that feels impossible? Bring God into the equation. Consider the question God asked Abraham and Sarah: “Is there anything too hard for theย Lord?” (18:14). No. There’s nothing too difficult for God.
God has His own timetable, and we don’t always like it. Sometimes He lets it drag on and on and on until we’re exhaustedโand then He does something you never could have done on your own.
His delays are not His denials.
