Is God Late?

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.  Genesis 21:1-3

As I look back at Abraham and Sarah’s life, it’s easy to see that God fulfilled every single promise.  But He did it in ‘His appointed time,’ not theirs.  From their perspective, He took too long.  While they waited, they doubted, they blamed, and then took matters into their own hands. Oh, how hard it is when promises take an interminable amount of time to materialize.

One day, when others look back at my life, they will see that God fulfilled every promise He made to me.  It is I who often struggle during seasons of waiting.  Because some promises haven’t come true when I think they should have, I can distrust the One who made them.  But as I review God’s mega-story, I am again overwhelmed with the nature and character of the Promise-Giver.  He has never, ever, broken His Word.

From the time God first promised the birth of Isaac, to the time Sarah conceived, was 25 years.  Yet, that’s nothing.  The ‘appointed time’ for the birth of Abraham’s greater offspring would occur 2,000 years later, in the birth of Christ.  God is never pressured to act outside of His perfect providence.

I have been guilty of judging my life, and my effectiveness, by worldly standards.  The prime of life, supposedly, occurs in one’s thirties.  By the time any of us are fifty, others assume that we’ve peaked and are near retirement.  It’s hogwash.  God didn’t even make the promise about Isaac until Abraham was seventy-five.  Some of the most effective trailblazers for the kingdom hadn’t even warmed up at fifty.  When God promises fruitfulness, it will not be compromised by our age, our education, our natural abilities, or the lack of.  When God calls us, we are equipped.  Period.  His promises will be fulfilled ‘at the appointed time’ and we can know this ~ it will be right on time.  In this we rest – as we wait.

You know what I still pray for ~ and in what promises I stand.  I adjust my clock to Your calendar.  Amen