Day 3: The Wilderness of Waiting

In my house group last year, I described faith in God’s faithfulness as the variable that makes the math work in an equation that otherwise doesn’t make sense. We’ve been contending for a number of ongoing things with physical and mental healing, jobs, and relationships. There have been times where it seemed like despair would win out, where faith once was, as people continued to wait on an unfulfilled prayer.

Abraham and Sarah’s faith started strong. In Genesis 12, God essentially tells them, “Leave what you know and I’ll tell you when to stop,” and they went. When God tells them that they will conceive an heir and father a great nation, “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (James 2:23) James considers this a pivotal moment of faith for Abraham.

But this faith wavered after waiting years for the promise to be fulfilled. Abraham and Sarah tried to force the issue ten years later by having Ishmael through Hagar, and thirteen years after that they laughed at God when He said it was time.

But Abraham and Sarah were undeniably confronted with God’s faithfulness again when Isaac came. Seeing God fulfill the promise when they’d wavered in faith seems to break something in them. They call Isaac that name because it means “laughter,” a constant reminder of their lack of faith and God still moving anyway. In a demonstration of how much his faith had grown, some thirty years later, Abraham is commanded to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham remembered that God’s promise was that through Isaac a nation would be built, and Isaac had no children.

Abraham’s only way to reconcile what seemingly was God breaking His promise was to assume that God would just raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:17-19). Resurrection was not a thing up to this point. Abraham would sooner believe something unprecedented would happen than believe God would break a promise. After being confronted with God’s faithfulness, their faith corrected back to believing God, even when God’s command seemed to be counter to the promise. When the equation didn’t add up, their faith was the variable that made the math work.

Our House Group has seen a back healed, a good report on chronic ear issues, a more enjoyable job, a more stable job, keeping a job when layoffs occurred, and renewed relationships with siblings and friends that were months or years of prayer. And there are still a number of situations that have seemed to have little movement–ongoing pain, difficult parent relationships, depression, and desire for marriage. But in the waiting, we hold onto the faithfulness of God, and let it increase our faith in believing what He says. Where despair would seem to be the answer, we’re leaning into faith.

What are some of the ways you’ve seen God’s faithfulness in your life? Where are you waiting for Him to show up now? What would it look like for you to choose faith and believing God over despair in this season?


PRAY:
God, thank you for being faithful, even when my faith wavers. Help me to remember your faithfulness in my life as I wait for your promises to come to pass. Give me courage to take steps of faith in response to what you ask me to do, and help me to trust that you will be faithful to your word, even when it doesn’t make sense. Amen.