Hear the Bible Study Podcast!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:25 — 11.6MB)
Key Verse:
Psalm 33:20-22 (ESV)
Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
God has a perfect plan for us that unfolds as we obediently walk in His Word. If we try and hurry His timing for us, we may miss a step and get into trouble. Abraham missed a step, and troubled followed.
I. Abraham Missed God’s Timing Because: He Did NOT Remember the Vision:
Genesis 15:1-3 (ESV)
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”
God instructed Abraham NOT to fear because fear leads to unbelief. Unbelief leads to despair and despair leads to hopelessness.
Proverbs 13:12 (ESV)
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
God promised to be Abraham’s Shield because waiting on the Lord takes courage and without it, the vision can be forgotten!
Psalm 28:7 (ESV)
The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.
When we forget the Vision that God gives us, we tend to look to others for help.
II. Abraham Missed God’s Timing Because: He surrendered his vision.
Genesis 16:1-2 (ESV)
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.
2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
God gave the Vision to Abraham, not to his wife. Yet Abraham surrendered authority over to her. Satan will often use people or things to detour you from God’s Vision for your life.
John 10:10 (ESV)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
III. Abraham Missed God’s Timing Because: He Took Matters into His Own Hands.
Genesis 16:3 (ESV)
So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.
By taking matters into his own hands, Abraham caused himself a lot of trouble!
Genesis 16:4-5 (ESV)
4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.
5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!”
IV. Abraham Missed God’s Timing Because: He Did NOT Have Spiritual Support.
Genesis 18:11-14 (ESV)
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.
12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”
13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’
14 Is anything too hard for the Lord?
God puts other Christians in our lives to support us, but not every one in our life is a spiritual support. God gave Christians the Church for spiritual support. We are to support one another in Christ!
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (ESV)
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
God knows His plans for us. He wants to bless us when the time is right. We must not try and hurry things. God will bring them in His Timing.
Psalm 130:5-6 (ESV)
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.