Genesis 16:1-14
1 Samuel 6-8
Patience is one of the hardest of Christian virtues to obtain, especially in a society that applauds instant gratification. We wait for nothing. Drivers behind lay on their horns and rev up their motors while the light is still red. People inch forward bumping others in hopes of making the line move faster. We can no longer wait for snail mail and those who don’t answer our emails instantly make it to our out-of-favor list. Impatience is nothing new although it may be more prevalent.
Abraham had been given a wonderful promise. God would give him a son that would lead to generations of children as numerous as the stars in the sky. Abraham and Sarah waited. And waited. And waited. When Abraham reached the age of 86, Sarah decided to help him out by offering her slave as a substitute for herself, so that Abraham could have his son. People of this day believed that life came from the man and that the woman was merely an incubator for his seed. There was no idea that Hagar would be giving her genetic code into the creation of a son. She would simply be the receptacle. When the child was born it would become the child of Abraham and Sarah, much like the surrogate mothers of today. Their impatience caused no end of trouble that extends into modern times in the Mid-East. For the immediate Sarah and Hagar were at each other’s throats causing an enormous amount of trouble for Abraham. In their desire to “help God out” they had brought stress and hostility into their family.
Abraham and Sarah are not the only ones who have attempted to help God out. Saul was the new king of Israel. Samuel had anointed him as God’s chosen king for the people given at their request. At first Saul had amazing success as he set about to fulfill God’s plan of a united kingdom of Israel. He and Samuel worked together with Samuel presenting the offerings and prayers to God while Saul conducted the military operations. As the battle with the Phillistines was approaching, Saul was told to wait seven days for Samuel to arrive to give the sacrifice, prayers, and blessing. But Samuel was late. Meantime the soldiers were defecting and as each day went by, the numbers of the Israelites were diminishing. The Phillistines were an intimidating force. They had forged weapons and awesome power on their side. Saul saw victory sliding away and so to help God out he proceeded to make the sacrifice himself. As soon as he finished Samuel arrived. But, because of his impatience, Saul began a decline that led to outright disobedience. God withdrew his support from Saul as king of Israel. Saul declined into jealosy, rage and madness.
Many times we set deadlines and since God has not acted, we determine that it is up to us to make the decision and proceed. We took the job offered, married the person at hand, or moved to that logical place. We have no idea what might have happened if we had made God our priority rather than the deadline we had set. Maybe there were consequences to our helping God out, or maybe we just missed out on the best God had to offer. We thought perhaps, that we couldn’t wait. We had to act fast, or lose the available offering.
God has promised to lead and guide but he has not promised to do it according to our time table. Often times he does things at the last improbable moment. Just as we think that he has failed to hear our plea, or perhaps he has forgotten us or just doesn’t care, God acts and does something so amazing that only he could be its orchestrator. God does his work in the fullness of his time. Our responsibility and privilege is to wait for it, to anticipate it, to applaud it, to give him praise. He doesn’t need our help, he needs our patience and obedience. He will act for our best in the fullness of time. Amen
