While Abram waited for his promised child, an alternative to the covenant was born named Ishmael. Ishmael is a metaphor for things that ‘anesthetize’ us from the pain of waiting too long for God’s promises. When God’s promises seem far to reach, and our patience seems exhausted, how can we hold on to God’s Word while we wait? What substitutes have you welcomed in place of God’s best?
Daniel Cole
Day 1
Scriptures: Isaiah 55:9, Luke 5:5-7, 1 Corinthians 1:27
God is Not Limited by What Limits Us.
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “A woman’s peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s. At age 30, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline. This decline becomes more rapid once you reach your mid-30s. By age 45 years, fertility has declined so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely for most women.” In the case of Sarah, this medical fact does not apply.
It defies any medical logic or reasoning that at the age of ninety, Sarah could carry a pregnancy to full term. It’s a complete contrast to any medical possibility. However, we serve a God who is not limited by what limits us. He is not constrained by what constrains us. He’s not bound by human set rules or principles. He operates in transcendence.
There will be times when logic, reasoning, intellect, and rational thinking will fail, moments when natural laws are suspended or overridden for God’s supernatural act. Peter walking on water defies Archimedes’ law of flotation, Jesus feeding a crowd of more than five thousand with five loaves and two fishes defies any economic principles, and Jonah staying alive in the belly of a fish contradicts what we know about survival.
Don’t put God in a box. Common sense cannot explain His ways. To experience God’s supernatural acts, we need to be flexible and obedient to His instructions, even when it doesn’t make sense.
Don’t write off your dream, yet.
You can still write that book.
You can still get that promotion.
You can still buy that house.
You can still buy that car.
You can still get married.
You can still be healed.
You can still start that business.
You can still get that degree.
No matter what that dream is, don’t write it off. Keep your hope alive. Remember what Luke 1:37 NKJV says: “For with God nothing will be impossible.” You may not see the resources you need yet, but God won’t put a dream in your heart if He won’t provide for it.
Whose injunction have you believed? Whose verdict have you accepted as ultimate? No one has a final say about your life, career, challenges, marriage, finances, and destiny except God.
Don’t settle for good enough. Don’t get comfortable with just getting by.
Day 2
Scriptures: Habakkuk 2:3, Matthew 7:7-8, 1 Peter 2:24
Don’t Settle For Less.
Be patient with God, but don’t settle for less than He promised. Be content, but keep reaching out for the best. Don’t reduce what God promised you to what you think is possible. Don’t settle with that medical report, or that job, if you believe God can still turn things around. Dare to dream bigger. As Michelangelo once said, “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”
Abraham laughed at the promise of God, of him having a child, because he couldn’t see how that will be possible. But just because he can’t see a way doesn’t mean that God didn’t’ have His way. Just because you can’t yet see the resources for your dream, doesn’t mean you should abort it. Keep believing and don’t settle for just good enough.
When God comes through on His promises for you, friends and families will say, “Who could have ever thought?” Your ‘Isaac’ is on the way. Don’t settle yet because you’ve had a little setback. If Ruth had settled back in Moab, she wouldn’t have met Boaz, who gave her a new beginning (Ruth 1).
Don’t settle for life ‘alternatives’ when God’s promise is still on the way. The alternatives do not come with lasting peace, because if God is not in it, it brings friction and sorrow. Hence, Sarah had to send Ishmael away once Isaac was born.
Ishmael went on to live a blessed life, and he may have brought temporary joy and relief to the family, but the Saviour would not be born from Ishmael’s lineage. It was through Isaac that God fulfilled the covenant He swore with Abram.
Remember, God is never too late in keeping His promises, but He’s never too early either.
Day 3
Scriptures: Isaiah 40:31, Romans 12:12
Be Patient With God.
Robert H. Schuller once said, “Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.”
God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah took a total of twenty-five years to be fulfilled, which should remind us of what Habakkuk 2:3 NIV says, “For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Ishmael may have been born thirteen years earlier, but God’s promise came to pass. At the right time, Isaac was born and the promise was fulfilled.
We all have a threshold of tolerance, be it for pain or delayed expectations, but with God’s power, He will see you to your promise. God’s promises are worth waiting for.
You can’t rush God in fulfilling His promises, just as farmers can’t control the rain and sunshine—all they can do is plant their seed, water it, and wait, for the harvest.
While you wait, don’t settle for a look-alike of God’s promise. Yes, sometimes when we’ve waited so long for a miracle, be it a job, a partner, healing, promotion, or any form of breakthrough, if we are not resolute in our trust in God, at some point, we start getting despondent. Proverbs 13:12a NIV reads, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick…” Nevertheless, we also need to remind ourselves what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV “…My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Don’t become so desperate while you wait. Remember, Esau sold his birthright in his desperation for food. Impatience is costly.
Take one day at a time. There is a musical term for a pace of play called poco a poco, meaning little by little. Dear friends, poco a poco, God’s promise will become a reality.
Day 4
Scriptures: 1 Samuel 13:13-14, Joshua 10:13
Don’t Play God’s Role.
When God speaks, try to understand what your role is in making that promise a reality. Don’t go beyond the bounds of God’s instruction. God’s promise to Abraham was clear and coherent. In Genesis 16:2 NIV, Sarai said to Abram, “…The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” No! God hasn’t kept Sarah from having a baby. The time of maturity for the promise was just a few years away.
When your days are dark and gloomy, when all hope seems to be lost, remember, if God will listen to the cry of Ishmael in the wilderness, if the sun and moon could stand still for Joshua and his armies to avenge their enemies (Joshua 10:13), then I believe, if you call on God He will listen and come to your rescue. Your circumstances cannot invalidate God’s promises. He is not a man that He should lie.
Don’t play the part God has not assigned you. Moses could have made it to the Promised Land, but he carried out God’s instruction the wrong way, and he paid a huge price for it. King Saul could have reigned over Israel forever, but he made a burnt offering to God he wasn’t supposed to make and his throne was taken from him.
1 Kings 13 narrates the story of a prophet who defies God’s instruction of not eating any meal or drinking any water on an assignment he was given. Disobedience to that instruction resulted in him being killed by a lion while on that assignment.
I am not implying that God always responds to disobedience at these extremes, but I’m showing that you are better off doing exactly as He commands. Remember, partial obedience is still disobedience, and delayed obedience is disobedience, as well.
Day 5
Scriptures: Jeremiah 1:5, 1 Corinthians 2:9, 2 Samuel 9:6-11
God Still Uses ‘Alternatives’
Ishmael was not the promised child, but God still has a plan for his life. In Jeremiah 1:5 NIV, God says “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart….” We serve a compassionate God who uses our broken pieces, our mistakes, and our shortcomings to bring about change in the world.
Your best days are still ahead of you. The world has not yet seen the best of you. You are God’s masterpiece, the apple of His eye. No matter the mistakes you’ve made, God’s arms are always wide open to return to Him. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
God told Hagar, “Ishmael will become a great nation,” and that was fulfilled. Ishmael’s twelve children are considered to be the ancestors of the Arab nation. (See the children of Ishmael in Genesis 25:13-15)
When King David ascended the throne in Israel, he asked, “Is there anyone left of the house of Saul to whom he can show kindness, for Jonathan’s sake?” Yes! Mephibosheth may be crippled and abandoned, but God hasn’t forgotten him. The King sent for him, and here is a seemingly, forgotten, abandoned child dining at the kings’ table. God’s grace will always come looking for you, no matter how insignificant you think your life is.
As you conclude this devotional plan, I hope that you realize that God’s promise is worth waiting for, and even if you have taken some wrong turns, or made some mistakes or poor choices, be reminded that God can still use it all to bring about a change in the world.
God can still use your ‘alternatives.’