// Read: Genesis 18:9-15; 21:1-3 //
9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.
“There, in the tent,” he said.
10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”
But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
MEDITATION:
Let us look at some examples in the Bible to ascertain that God has an appointed time for everything. It is not always that this time is revealed but what He has promised always comes to pass at the set time. Abram and Sarai are our case study today. They had heard God several times promising them a child till they were striking in age and it had not happen. In fact, when the visitors said it again, Sarah laughed. It was like a joke to her but the visitors said “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” At the time appointed, I will return unto thee, according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son”. Note the ‘appointed time’ in the verse. Genesis 21:2 says, “For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him”, ‘a set time’ was mentioned here also. This shows that God when making a promise has a set time (appointed time) in mind. There is nothing you can do but to wait patiently, not wavering in faith until then. Any attempt to help God may disqualify one.
PRAYER: God, give me grace to wait patiently for the fulfillment of your promises in my life.