Trust God in the Waiting

By: Melanie Moore

The other day, I was reading the Bible story of Abram and Sarai (later named Abraham and Sarah, so I'll use those names for familiarity). God had promised Abraham that his descendants would so many that they would be impossible to count! God told Abraham that his descendants would be in number comparable to the grains of sand on the seacoast or the number of stars in the sky.

I can see Abraham's eyes getting bigger and bigger as he heard this message from God. He may have been surprised to have so many descendants, but I'm sure it was even more shocking since Abraham was advanced in years.

But Abraham believed God's promises.

And [God] brought [Abraham] outside and said,

“Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.”

Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:5-6 (ESV)

I love how the Bible describes Abraham's reaction - "he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness". Perhaps this is what righteousness looks like in each of our lives -- believing, waiting, trusting... even when our minds can't fully comprehend what God is doing, we trust God's heart and know that He is in control of all things.

I wish I could claim Abraham's reaction as my own when faced with circumstances that don't make sense in my own life. Sadly, my reactions normally tend to follow Sarah's response. In Genesis 16, we see Sarah's response to God's promises of descendants. Sarah probably scratched her head, wondered how they would have children at such a later age, and then decided that she needed to step in to take control of God's plan.

While reading this portion of the scripture, I always cringe a bit because we know poor Sarah means well but she is going to mess things up. Then, I look into the mirror and think, "I know poor <insert my name here> means well, but I'm going to mess things up."

We need to let God be God. We trust His hand even when we don't see what He is doing because we know His heart.

Rather than jump in to a circumstance that we want God to change, my prayer is that I can simply talk with God and hear His promises to me. By reading His Word, and by drawing near to Him, we know God's character. 

In our waiting, rather than fighting to take control of each situation, I pray that our response will be more like Abraham's. We simply believe the Lord and it will be counted as righteousness.

What are you facing today? How might you turn it over to God and believe He will take care of it?