My devotions lately have taken me to the account of Abraham in Genesis. This time I saw something I’d never seen before.
Let’s trace the story of his life. In chapter twelve God calls Abraham away from his home and family. He leaves dreaming of the incredible promises he had just received. God would bless him, make his name great and make him and his descendants into a mighty nation. Thrilling stuff! Don’t you love it when God excites you with wonderful possibilities?
In Chapter fifteen God assures Abraham that he would have a son of his own and directs Abraham’s gaze into the night sky. “See how many stars there are Abraham. Try to count them if you can, that’s what your offspring will be like.” Talk about joy and elation, can’t you imagine Abraham rushing home shouting with excitement “Sarah, you won’t believe what God just told me! We’re going to have a son! We need to be ready, we need to get you some maternity clothes and let’s start construction on the baby’s room right away. God said it; I believe it, and that settles it!”
Then the years begin to pass but there is no baby. The promise from God becomes harder and harder to believe. “Maybe I misunderstood. Maybe that promise was for somebody else. I do blow it a lot, would God really want to bless somebody like me?” Faith begins to fade and Abraham and Sarah become vulnerable. They want a son and a family and God promised that would happen, but then God waited too long. Eventually the solution becomes obvious. We need to take matters into our own hands. Sarah suggests Abraham sleeps with her servant Hagar; if she becomes pregnant Sarah will raise the child. Obviously not the best solution but it’s better than nothing. Right? Wrong! It was a plan filled with compromise, a work of the flesh that was destined for failure from the start. This only introduces tension and trouble into the home that lasts for years and Sarah never did end up raising the child. The lesson is clear, when we trade God’s plan and His timing for our plan and our timing it never works out.
None of that was new to me, I’ve taught it many times. What stood out this time was two scriptures in chapter seventeen. Abraham is now ninety-nine years old and God once again appears to him guaranteeing that he would be fruitful, that his descendants would become nations and some would be kings. God promises that the land of Canaan would become an everlasting possession for Abraham and the generations of descendants that would come after him. Now here is what struck me, this time there is no excitement, no joy and no faith. Abraham’s response is underwhelming to say the least.
Gen 17:17-18 (NIV) Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” (18) And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
What happened here? Is this the result of a dream being obliterated by the passing of time? At one time Abraham believed all that God was saying and it was counted to him as righteousness. (Gen 15:6) Now God gives him these same promises and Abraham can only laugh in unbelief. “Yeah, right! I tried believing all that and it really didn’t work out so well. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, what a joke!” Notice what he says in verse eighteen. “Can’t you just bless Ishmael instead?” Bless my plan God, yours wasn’t all that great. God is still promising great things but Abraham is no longer willing to trust Him for them. He has come to a place of deadness where he doesn’t anticipate much from God any longer. He was now willing to settle for mediocrity.
Can any of you relate? You used to be so excited about the possibilities of walking with God and watching His plan unfold in your life. You clung to the promises and your faith couldn’t be shaken. Now it’s been so long and so little has happened and you’ve grown weary. God seems a million miles away and His promises no longer excite you like they used to. It seems the dream of God’s blessing in your life is dying.
Dear brother and sister in Christ hold on, God is merciful and gracious. He is a loving Father whose affection for you dwarfs your love for your own children. Realize that the wilderness is necessary for your development. Moses is called to be Israel’s deliverer but first must spend time in the desert to develop character. David is promised that he would become king but first must be harassed by Saul to become the kind of man that could be God’s king. Peter is made an Apostle but must be allowed to fail and weep bitterly to fashion humility so he could become the Apostle God desired him to be. There are times when the good Shepherd must lead us through the valley of the shadow of death to take us to the green pastures (Ps 23).
You must believe that even in those times the promises remain. Psalm 23:4 tells us that God is with us when it seems we are walking in the darkness. Psalm 23:6 assures us that God’s goodness and loving kindness relentlessly pursue us all the days of our life, chasing us even into the wilderness. God will never leave us nor forsake us and His actions and motives towards us are always good and loving. I know it doesn’t feel that way all the time but that is the truth. Abraham and Sarah’s dream died and their faith faded until there was barely anything remaining. Yet God is good, He still blessed in His timing and in His way.
Right now you are faced with a couple of choices. You can waste your life worrying about what hasn’t turned out like you thought it would. The other option is to commit your life afresh to God right now, right where you’re at and ask Him to use you for His glory in whatever way He desires. You might just see what an almighty, loving God can do with shattered dreams. Abraham and Sarah did.
Great Bill, just what I needed!! God bless you
Thanks Ryan I’m glad it helped. Great to see you commenting on the blog.
This resinates with a verse written in my soul ….Hope defered makes the heart sick. But when the desire is accomplished it is a tree of life. From the book of Proverbs hidden in my heart.
Great application of scripture for this article. Thanks Bob
Thank you so much, I really needed to read this.
My head is in a mess and I cant hear God. A micro business I started to bring in some much needed income, at the time I felt God was laying a path for me and setting the course for me. It started well and I was so full of hope and assurance of Gods blessing, then it began to fail. I felt like I had messed it all up with a wrong attitude and a wrong motive and that my pride had been so ugly that God had decided not to allow me to continue. I was a failure at everything and always had been. I should give it all up and never expect to achieve anything of any use or merit. I made a mistake and God had not been with me. If he wants me to give it up or not, I have asked and I cant hear the answer, one minuet I think, is OK he has a plan, its all in his hands and it will work out OK, in his timing. The next I think I went out of his will, I should be a stay at home mum and help my husband in his business and not go rushing off doing silly things, it will fail. It will be another costly mistake, the longer I keep going the worse it is. I believe that if God wants me doing it he will be with me and he will have his hand on it. If I was wrong then I should repent and get back to where I was asap.
I have been asking God what to do, to give up or to stick at it. My only employee, a part time wonder woman who held the fort for me so I could pick the children up from school and cook dinner, told me she is moving back to her previous home, and is leaving at the end of January. I haven’t given up yet, but hope has almost gone. It all looks so doombed.
I had been praying that God would ease our finances. We are poor for our part of the world, we don’t have much money and have to consider every penny we spend, or we wont have enough to by food at the end of the month. We depend on hand downs for clothes. At birthdays and Christmas often I have no idea how we can make it special for the children, we have four, God has been faithful and they have always had a present and a treat. Part of the reason I haven’t given up already is that I don’t want to dread the bank statement any more. If I give up, then am I giving up on God making the change in our lives. We always have been blessed with just enough to keep us out of debt. Until cars engine died we borrowed the money to get another old car, we haven’t been able to pay it back yet, it now needs money spent on it, I don’t have it.
Reading this about old Abraham was a big encouragement, he did the silly dance in his head I am doing now, He believed, but got disheartened when it didn’t arrive. I guess that he probably went round and round in circles in his mind too.
Hi Marie,
Your blog comment spoke to me. I appreciate your level of transparency. I often wonder myself, “when does trial stop, when will I finally feel like I’ve spiritually arrived?” A place where God’s purpose and his gifting resonate as one. Where we emerge from our own 40 year trek in the desert into a land flowing with milk and honey. Bill’s message spoke to me encouraging me that God has never stopped working in my life and as hard as it can be sometimes, I need to just continue trusting him. Even when I can’t see where it’s all leading at the moment.
I know in my life I’m trying to get to a point where I see everything flowing out of God’s love for me. To simply rest in the fact that He is my loving Father and knows exactly what my life needs at this moment. It may be chastisement, painful pruning or a season of abundance. It all comes from love and is all meant for my good. That’s a lot easier to type than to actually live out, but I have been praying that I would have the same attitude Paul had.
Phil 4:12-13 (NIV) I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (13) I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
To find my contentment in Christ and to honestly be able to say “You are enough”.
I also see the need in my own life to allow God to have access to my dreams and change them in any way He desires. My dreams may not be His and if that is the case I need to let them die. It is extremely painful but in the end His will is good, perfect and pleasing (Rom 12:2). My will has never really worked out all that well.
The important distinction we must make after reading about this dream of Abrahams’ is that it wasn’t his dream per se, it was God’s promise to him. A big difference. We cannot expect God to bless our dreams if they are not from Him. I personally have had to die to a deep longing of a dream. It has not come to pass and obviously wasn’t a part of God’s plan for me. It still hurts. But I must accept it as coming from a Father’s loving heart.
I also think when we are dealing in those grey areas of life, when we do not know if our dream is from God or not we need to pray first and then do what seems to be the wise thing to do. We don’t throw our minds out the window. We trust God for His part and we also do our part. Trusting God will confirm to us we are on the right path or not by opportunities He opens or closes along the way. I still like the analogy of a car. You can’t steer a car that isn’t moving. The same with God and us. As a general rule of thumb, we can’t be stationary and be guided. Unless the Lord says “wait”. In those cases circumstances usually change or we do. I think too many times though we don’t do anything and are waiting for God to “guide us”, when He wants us to be actively doing the right, wise and reasonable thing. He then can step in and direct our path because He is Sovereign.
Dear Bill
Thank you for this particular post it has renewed my zeal, for a dream on its deathbed.
Many times I have questioned the validity of some of the promises God has made to me, as well as the authenticity of some of his messengers.
I hold fast to one promise in particular given to me by an old friend who has since gone to glory. “For I know the plans that I have for you saith the Lord, plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” This is of course the well worn Jeremiah 29v11.
What I tend to forget are verses 12-14, which were also given to me at the same time and speak of calling upon God, praying to Him, seeking Him, finding Him, searching wholeheartedly and being brought back out of captivity from the places He has driven us”.
I have been feeling particularly captive recently having started a new job which is proving to be extremely challenging. I’ve also ‘driven’ my wife and 3 young boys out of Kent in England, back up north to where I came from and often wonder whether I have taken matters into my own hands again and shelved God’s plans, just like Abraham did.
We moved to Kent from West London in 2004 with a vision to work with children built around the scripture John 4. 35-38. This was further confirmed when we got there and a visiting Pastor told me she saw ‘many acres’ of green fields with children running around on them and that we should start searching for houses with land.
We did so for a little while, then my old friend died unexpectedly, then my mum died of cancer, then I stopped going to church for a year. Then my wife was invited by a work colleage to go with her to a different church, called Grace Fellowship in Ashford.
She eventually persuaded me to go along with her where I heard you teach for 2 months before you went back to the US. I was well fed. I especially recall your message on Contentment from 1 Corinthians 7 vs 17-24 on 7/14/2007.
It really helped me to come to terms with the fact that we couldn’t afford to buy a house with land, and that I should be content to rest on God’s provision. It also inspired me to write a poem. (If you would like a copy let me know).
We still can’t afford to buy a house up north where it’s much cheaper (we rent) let alone a house with land in Kent.
Although we are still content to rent and are no longer chasing that ‘dream’ I feel reassured that if God can give the aged and barren Sarah a son, he can certainly restore my dream.
Thanks Pastor Bill.