THE SET UP: Mary was not the first or only parent that God promised a child to. About 2,000 years before the angel appeared to Mary, God promised Abram and Sarai that they would become parents – even though Abraham was 75 years old and Sarai was almost as old! (Genesis 12) I don’t know how a couple that age felt about becoming first-time parents, but God gave them a promise and they clung to it. But that doesn’t mean that it was easy to hold onto hope.
In Genesis 17, God appears to Abram and lets him know he has not forgotten his promise, that Abram would become a father. The catch? Twenty-four years had gone by, Abram was now 99 years-old! If God’s promise seemed like a long shot at 75, it had to seem ridiculous at 99! But the Bible tells us in Genesis and Romans 4 that Abraham continued to believe in a God, “who calls dead things back to life, and things to exist that didn’t exist before,” (Romans 4:17).
The child that God did give to Abraham at the age of 100 was significant. Not just because it brought joy to Sarah and Abraham. Not just because they did become a mighty nation. But because that nation become Israel and it was through their family line that the Messiah, Jesus, was born.
Abraham and Sarah’s story reminds us that God’s ways can be unconventional, and his timing is way different than ours. But as Sarah and Abraham held their son, Isaac, in their arms, they knew for certain that God can fulfill his promises. And this promise led to another and another, until the ultimate fulfillment in a manger in Bethlehem.
Someone once said about the way God works in our lives, “A promise delayed is not a promise denied.” Abraham grew in faith as he waited. As we wait during this season of Advent, may our faith grow as well.
PASSAGE TO READ: Genesis 12:1-9; Genesis 17:1-8
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
· God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah seemed impossible. If God were to make you a seemingly impossible promise, what do you think it would be?
· Romans 4 tells us that Abraham didn’t weaken in the waiting, instead his faith grew stronger. How do you think Abraham managed that? What did he see or know that allowed him to do that?
· Where has God fulfilled his promises to you in the past? How does that help you to trust him now?
PRAYER: “God, you are the one who calls dead things back to life and makes things exist that never existed before. You did it for Sarah and Abraham and you did it when a young virgin girl gave birth to the Messiah. You are bigger than anything I could ever dream or believe. I pray you would remind me of that when life seems too big and my faith feels too small. Fulfill your promises in my life I pray. Amen.”