How to Be Shaped by God’s Promises in the Waiting

I was two weeks past my baby’s due date when a man in the church atrium said with a look of shock, “You’re still here?” I felt like I had disappointed him, not to mention my own disappointment. Yes, I was “still here,” and not happy about it.  

Perhaps this is how you feel about your speaking or writing ministry. Are you in a time of waiting? Do you feel “overdue?” Are you disappointed that you’re “still here,” instead of further on down the timeline?

For Sarah, wife of Abraham, there were twenty-five years of disappointment, leading up to her due date.  

The Disappointment in Waiting

God first introduced himself to Abraham with a grandiose set of promises, saying, “I will make of you a great nation… and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). Notice that God’s promises weren’t contingent; he didn’t say, “If you do X, I will do Y.” God  simply said, “I will.” 

When God makes a promise, it’s like the first parenthesis in a set. You know the second parenthesis (the fulfilment) is coming. You never have one parenthesis with out the other. But often the gap between the parentheses is much wider than we first imagine. This certainly was the case for Sarah. 

As Sarah packed up everything and prepared to move to the promised land, I imagine her thinking, “I’ll probably get pregnant on the way! We’ll get there and build a house, and start having babies… This is going to be great!” But ten years after arriving in Canaan (Genesis 16:3), Sarah was still living in a tent, and still setting the dinner table for two. 

Our Promises

When we compare our disappointment to Sarah’s, we have to be careful not misappropriate God’s promises. For instance, I heard about a speaker who told a group of women to claim God’s promise for a baby. God promised Sarah a baby, but he hasn’t made that promise to you or me. Nor has he promised us a thriving speaking ministry or multiple book deals. When we claim promises that God hasn’t made (which often don’t come true), we detract from the impact of the promises he has made by making God seem unreliable.

The fact is, God has lavished us with great and precious promises, which all hinge on him first keeping his promise to Sarah. You see, God wasn’t just promising a baby to an elderly woman, he was promising a Savior to the World. Jesus, who was eventually born into Abraham and Sarah’s family line, was the fulfillment of God’s promises—not just to them, but to all of us who believe. Regardless of your ethnicity, when God promised to bless all the families of the world through Abraham (Genesis 12:3), he was thinking of all Jesus would mean to you. 

But why are there so often such wide gaps between the parentheses of God’s promises? 

The Gap Between the Parentheses

God promised a baby to Abraham and Sarah twenty-five years prior to Sarah’s due date. That’s a long stretch of seemingly unnecessary waiting. Yet I find it helpful to consider what Sarah might have wrongly concluded if she had gotten pregnant on the way to the promised land. 

Would she have assumed that this was a transactional agreement—her move in exchange for a baby? Would she have been convinced that she earned God’s favor? Would she have been less likely to think of this child as a miracle?

When you think about the gaps on your own timeline, perhaps you can think of ways you, too, have been spared wrong conclusions. Have your waiting times helped you realized your lack of self-sufficiency? Has an extended timeline made you more reliant on God? 

Is Anything Too Wonderful? 

Over the decades that followed God’s promises, Sarah became increasingly convinced that she couldn’t have a baby. We know this because when God restated his promise that Sarah would have a baby, she laughed (Genesis 18:12). A woman having a baby at age ninety? The idea was preposterous. Yet God replied, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14)

If you’re feeling disappointed or even despondent because of how far “overdue” you are, consider God’s question. Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? 

Sarah did have a baby, but not in the time frame she expected. As we flip forward in our Bibles and watch Sarah’s family, over centuries, become the nation to which the Savior was born, we see something that we otherwise wouldn’t — God’s faithfulness. 

Faithfulness can’t be demonstrated in a moment. It’s only over lapsing time that we see just how faithful God has been to keep his promises. 

As you wait on a book deal or pray for speaking opportunities or watch for fruit from your ministry to sprout, remember that you, too, serve a God who says, “I will.” Like Abraham and Sarah, he stirs you to walk by faith into the unknown. He asks you to make sacrifices and leave the familiar behind. And over time, he shows himself to be faithful. 

Your faith involves clinging to God’s promises during the long stretches of waiting between the parentheses—especially when his promises seem incongruent with your reality. 

Do you have promises about how everything in your lifetime will turn out? Are you promised a particular timeline? No and no. But in your “still here,” overdue seasons of ministry, God invites you to cling to the promises you do have. Here are a few to get your started:

• In Christ, you’re forgiven. Any “no” you’ve received isn’t God’s punishment for your sin. Jesus already took your punishment, remember? (I John 1:9)

• Jesus is near. In times of disappointment or frustration, Jesus says he will never leave you and will be there to comfort you. (Hebrews 13:5 and II Corinthians 1:3-4)

• You will be rewarded. Your rewards won’t be based on what you’ve produced, but on your faithfulness to Jesus over time. (Matthew 25:21). 

Question: Friend, how is God asking you to be shaped by his promises in the waiting? I look forward to reading your comments.