The God of the How and When

Kathie

The stories of Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Joshua, and Mary the mother of Jesus all had one thing in common: each story represented a promise from God. Some of those promises, however, took centuries before they were fulfilled, requiring a great deal of waiting from the one who had received the promise. And, as any believer can tell you, waiting on God is one of the hardest things to do. Trusting Him in the process is equally difficult, but it’s in the believing that we truly please the God who made the promise.

In the case of Abraham and Sarah, the Bible tells us in Genesis 12:2 that God told Abram (his name at the time) that He would make him the father of a great nation. To do this, he of course would have to have an heir, though it seemed impossible because his wife Sarai (her name at the time) had been barren for many years. In fact, Sarai actually laughed when she heard that she would become pregnant and bear a child.

Sure enough, though, decades after God’s initial promise to them, their son, Isaac, was born when Abraham was one hundred years old and Sarah was ninety (see Genesis 17:17; 21:5)! Of course, this was the beginning of the great nation of the Hebrews. This story continued through enslavement in Egypt and God’s promise to deliver them and take them to a land of their own—the “promised” land—with Moses in the lead. After Moses died, his faithful follower Joshua lead the Hebrew nation to the Promised Land. Again, God’s promise took a while to be fulfilled, but forty years after leaving Egypt the Hebrews eventually entered the “land flowing with mild and honey” (Exodus 3:8 NASB).

Many centuries later a young Hebrew virgin named Mary was visited by an angel who told her she had found favor with God and would bear a child she would call Jesus, which means “God saves.” Through Jesus the Eternal Deliverer, God fulfilled His promise that Abraham’s seed would be a blessing to all nations. And when the Savior of the world came into the physical world He had created with His Father in the beginning, the God of the How and When continued to build His Kingdom through the lives of the billions of followers of Jesus (Yeshua), the Savior of all humankind.

As a follower of Jesus, you “live and move and have [your] being” in the One who created you and loves you with an everlasting love (Acts 17:28 NIV). You are part of this Kingdom-building promise of God, and as you trust in God’s timing and in His faithfulness to fulfill His promises you participate in God’s plans to redeem humankind. Be patient, know that He who promised is faithful, and rest in the Savior who gave everything to share His promises with you. Blessed be the holy name of the God of the How and When!

Respond

How have you responded to God’s promise of forgiveness of sin and eternal life through Jesus’ death and resurrection?

In what ways have you seen God’s faithfulness in the past?

What does it look like for you to trust in God’s timing and participate in His plans to redeem people in your realm of influence?