Waiting is Hard to Do

By Mary Vee

Abram believed God would give him his own son, and from that son a whole nation of people would eventually be born.

Sarai believed God as well.  They both believed and waited for ten years, then Sarai started to wonder.  "Maybe God didn't mean I would be the mother of this son."  A tear drip down her face. She continued thinking.  "After all, God didn't tell Abram I would be the mother. He only told Abram that he would be the father."

She walked out to an open area outside their tent and smiled at the clouds over the valley below.  Living on top of a mountain was nice.  God promised her husband, Abram, all the land in front of her eyes.  The land would one day belong to his descendants.  God didn't say she would be the mother.

She wiped the tear from her face and sighed.  I guess someone else should be the mother.

She talked with Abram and explained her thinking.  Abram agreed.

Abram took Sarai's servant, Hagar as a second wife.

Once Hagar became pregnant she disliked Sarai.  The two began fighting until one day Hagar ran away.

What a mess.  No one seemed happy.

Hagar hid in the desert near a spring.  God sent an angel to her.  He spoke softly and told her to go back to Sarai and continue being her servant.  He told her to be nice to Sarai and respect her.  He also said she would have a son who would have many descendants. 

After nine months, Hagar had a son. Abram named him Ishmael.

Thirteen years later God visited with Abram to tell him some very important news: 

Abram's name would be changed to Abraham, which means father of many nations.

Sarai's name would be changed to Sarah which means she would be blessed and given a son, and become the mother of nations.

WOW!  That's the news she has been waiting for.  God said it.  He really said it.  SHE would be the mother of the son God promised to Abram, oops his name is Abraham, now.

Sarah thought to herself, "If only I waited longer.  If only I waited for the time God had in mind, I wouldn't have had the problem with Hagar.  But how could I have known?  I was only trying to help."

I think that was the problem, don't you?  I try to help God do the things He wants me to do instead of waiting for Him to make things happen at the right time.  

Sometimes I try to...well, maybe you could share a time you realized things would have turned out differently if you had waited for God.  Or maybe share a time you did wait, and you saw God work.

One time, well, actually several times, I finished someone's sentence when they were talking to me.  I said the wrong things and they got angry with me.  Sometimes they walk away from me because they were mad.  I wished I had waited before I spoke.