Delayed Blessings

I want us to peer into the life of Abraham today, friends, and to see the faithfulness of God to Abraham. Abraham had to wait a number of years before he saw the promised blessing in the birth of his son Isaac, but before Abraham could see with his own eyes what God had previously promised him, he had to learn the lessons involved of delayed blessings. And that's the title of my message today, friends—Delayed Blessings.

And my text can be found in the Book of Genesis and Chapter 21. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in verses 1 through 5. And let me read us this striking passage of Scripture at this time.

Here now is the word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of His holy word. And the Lord visited Sarah, as he had said. And the Lord did unto Sarah, as he had spoken.

For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham, a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. Let me pause here, friends. Always remember that God's word is gold.

You can always count on it, and it will always have value. That is worth something to you, both in its promises and in its purpose. Let me continue with our text.

And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bared to him—Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him.

I will stop there. I want to draw out of our text today, friends, several aspects that pertain to our theme of delayed blessings. Have you ever been in a place in your life where you were waiting upon God to come with a blessing or perhaps a deliverance? Perhaps you were presently in a difficult situation, that is, trying both your patience and your faith, and you look and lean upon your God to come with a blessing, but you are in a place of delay.

Time is running out, and you don't understand why, or why God hasn't shown up yet with your blessing. Divine delays are seen throughout all my Bible. Why did Jesus sit on the mountainside, watching his disciples struggle out on the sea, in the boat, in a terrible storm? Why did he wait until the fourth watch of the night, before going out atop the turbulent waters to calm the sea and rescue his wearied men? Why did the Lord Jesus pause along the way and take his time, when he got the news that Lazarus was sick unto death? Why did he wait until the corpse was rotten in a tomb, before he came and spoke words of resurrection power? Why are the divine delays so apparent in our Bibles? Why the delayed blessings? I suppose it is to build our faith and try our hearts.

Would you agree with that, friends? Our text states in verse 2, at the set time of which God, or at the set time of God. In other words, God is always on time in regard to his purpose, played out in the life of his servants. The set time of God is not on our timetable, but his, and his time, friends, is always best.

But we often make the grave mistake of rushing God's time. Even Abraham, in his old-age foolishness, listened to his wife's poor judgment, and having him go into Hagar to get a son, rather, than wait God's time. The race of Ishmael has been a thorn in the side of Israel ever since that time.

Oh, friends, I can say I'm on life. I regret the times I didn't wait on God, and I tried to do things in the flesh, and I ended up face down in the mud in a ditch. Let us look now at several aspects from our text that speak as how a holy God and a sovereign king deals with his followers through delayed blessings.

Let me list four aspects in how God builds a man through divine delays. Delayed blessings. Number one, test faith.

Number two, try the heart. Number three, teach endurance. And number four, trust the promises.

When God, through his providence, brings a person into a prolonged period of delayed blessings, it will test their faith, and try their heart, and teach them endurance, and focus their hopes, and trust in the promises of God in his written word. And as God's time is the best time, so too is the fact that God's word is sure. Listen, friends.

God's word is true, and he is true to his word. Our text declared that fact, and the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. But remember, friends, the words in the next verse, at the set time of which God, the promised blessing, came on God's time.

We can't rush God and get by. Let us trust him and keep our eyes on him as we wait for him to do what he has said he would do for all his glory and the honor of his holy name. Let us pray.