Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

(Continued from Day 91)

In Genesis 13:15–17, God repeats the promise, only this time in greater detail: "For all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted."

Descendants and land—they’re the promise God makes and repeats for many years. Abraham is in a waiting pattern. We may feel like God is late, but the truth is, He is always right on time. You see, there’s a difference between God’s will and timing. God keeps telling Abraham about His will, but the timing isn’t right yet. Faith is trust in God’s will and God’s timing. Some of the greatest mistakes we make in life are based on knowing God’s will but getting ahead of His timing.

God keeps showing up over many years and declaring His will, and Abraham keeps worshipping, waiting on God’s timing. In Romans 4:3, Paul quotes Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God.” Abraham didn’t know how or when God would keep His promise, but he trusted He would. Abraham believed when God said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them...So shall your offspring be” (Genesis 15:5).

In Genesis 17, God shows up again and says, “You shall be the father of a multitude of nations” (v. 4). Then He gets even more specific: “Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him” (v. 19). At this point Abraham is 99 years old. He’s been waiting faithfully for 24 years. God says Abraham’s son will be born “this time next year” (v. 21), but there’s something Abraham needs to do—one final act of faith. “You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you” (v. 11). And once again, Abraham obeyed.

When Abraham was 100 years old—25 years after God’s promise—God’s perfect timing arrived. Sarah gave birth to a son. They named him Isaac, which means “he laughs.” Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me...Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age” (Genesis 21:6–7).

Today’s Reflection

While waiting for God’s timing, are you worshipping or whining?