# 183 Patient Endurance

The Book of Genesis

Day 183

Ge 21:1 And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken.  2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

Finally! 25 years have passed since God first promised Abraham that He would make a great nation of him! 25 years! We get impatient with God if our prayers aren’t answered within a week!  It’s fairly clear from some of Abraham’s actions that he had forgotten about the promise or given up on it altogether. But God didn’t forget and He reminded Abraham, of the promise often.

The promise was repeated at the Terebinth tree of Moreh. It was repeated again after he and Lot parted ways. Then again after Abraham’s encounter with Melchizedek. Repeated again when Abraham turned 90. Repeated again when the angels visited him before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah!  It was at this last time that the actual date of the birth of the child was given to Abraham, and sure enough, Sarah bore a son at the set time of which God had spoken.

25 years of waiting! Sometimes losing faith along the way, some doubting, some fearing, but remaining faithful to God through it all, and God delivered!  My friend, “God is not a man that HE should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken and will He not make it good?” (Num 23:19)

Take heart from the birth of this promised child! Maybe you have been waiting for a promise of God to come to fruition in your life. Time passes on and you forget about it, but God periodically brings the matter to your attention. Keep praying and remain faithful like Abraham. 

The Holy Spirit, speaking to us in the Book of Hebrews says this: Heb 6:10, “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you." 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

Patient endurance while continuing in the faith, loving Jesus and others as you wait on the Lord! This is key! Know and believe that God’s timing in delivering His promises is always perfect! Take heart from the birth of Abraham’s and Sarah’s child in the midst of  impossible circumstances. Know that “God was  not slack concerning His promise toward Abraham and Sarah, and He will not be slack towards you! If it’s in His will, it will be done on earth as it is spoken in heaven!

Pray: Father, grant us the patient endurance we need, and in the meantime spur us on to live lives pleasing to you!