Abraham - Learn to Wait - Part 1

No, our faith is not based on feelings or circumstances. Our faith is based on the Word of God. When we have faith in God, we obey God even if the order is wait.

Gracious Father in heaven, we give thanks for Your Word. It nourishes us, it encourages and enlightens us. And we're grateful that today we have the freedom to open the Word of God and study. And now we pray, teach us by Your Spirit. May we learn far more through the Holy Spirit's ministry than what any preacher might say to us. And help us to apply it and practice it. Meet our needs today and help us to accomplish Your will. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

In Genesis 12 and 13, Abraham is teaching us how to walk by faith. We learn that faith brings us out, and faith brings us in, and faith brings us back. Faith brings us through, and faith brings us on. We can keep on walking with the Lord. Well, after you learn how to walk by faith, then the next lesson, Genesis 14 and 15, how to war by faith. And we see Abram learning how to step out by faith and win the battle. Of course, his greatest battle was after the war was over. We've seen that Abraham was tested by circumstances when the famine came into the land. He was tested by people when Lot and the herdsmen started a disagreement. He was tested by things when the king of Sodom offered him all of the spoils of the battle. And then he was tested by his own feelings on the inside, chapter 15. And then God helped him with his fear and with his lack of assurance. God helped him to understand what He was doing.

Now in chapter 16, we come to one of the most difficult lessons in the school of faith, namely how to wait by faith. You're going to find in chapter 16 and 17, God is teaching us how to wait by faith. It's much easier to walk by faith. You're going somewhere, you're doing something. Or to even to war by faith, at least you have the enemy there before you and you're using the weapons of the spiritual armor.

But when it comes to waiting, that's a difficult thing. I find in my own life that waiting is difficult. I'm an activist, I'm a doer. I'm the kind of a person who makes a list of tasks the night before, and the next morning I get up early and I begin to tackle that list. I'm the kind of a person who could easily become a workaholic. And sometimes God has to make me to lie down, and then I have to learn how to wait by faith. I walked into the guest house, the AIM guest house in Nairobi in Kenya, East Africa some years ago, and there on the bulletin board was a big poster. Perhaps you have seen this poster. It said, "O Lord, make me patient, and do it now." I think that's perhaps my motto. O Lord, make me patient, but do it now. Genesis 16.

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go into my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her." And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. So he went into Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. Then Sarai said to Abram, "My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me." So Abram said to Sarai, "Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please." And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.

Well, let's stop there at Genesis 16:6 and we'll pick up the rest of the story in our next lesson. Now, what I'd like to do is answer a few questions that relate to this matter of faith and patience. In chapter 15 you find Abraham exercising faith. Verse 6, "And he believed in the Lord; and He accounted it to him for righteousness." Now in chapter 16, that faith has to lead to patience. Hebrews 6:12 tells us that. We should be like those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Now God gave Abram the promises here in chapter 15. He promised him a nation, He promised him an heir, He promised him a land, He sealed the whole thing with a covenant. The blood was shed, God went between the pieces of the sacrifices, and God established His covenant. Abraham was asleep; the whole thing was grace. It was not grace plus works, it was totally the grace of God. Well, now in chapter 16, we have to learn how to wait by faith. God had given the promise of the heir to Abraham when Abraham was 75 years old. Now ten years later, He has reaffirmed the promise, but nothing has happened. And Abraham and his wife get impatient. Lord, make me patient and do it now.

Question number one, what is true faith? Now, last year I gave a series of studies for one week on what Bible faith really is. I want to review some of that now. You see, there is a counterfeit faith. A great deal is being said about faith these days. Even politicians are saying, "Now we must have faith." And I say, "Faith in what?" Faith is only as good as the object. You put your faith in sticks and stones, you'll get what they can do. Put your faith in money, you'll get what money can do. Put your faith in God, you'll get what God can do. Many people have their faith based on feeling. Oh, they feel so good. They have a feeling down inside that what they're doing is right, and they really believe it's going to turn out.

Well, back in chapter 15, Abraham had some difficult feelings, didn't he? Fear and lack of assurance and impatience, and yet he exercised marvelous faith in the Lord. Faith doesn't depend on feelings. Somebody else says, "Well, I know it's all going to work out. I'm watching the circumstances." Faith doesn't depend on circumstances. A famous preacher once said that faith is not believing in spite of evidence; faith is obeying in spite of consequences, and I might add, in spite of feelings. When we have faith in God, we obey God even if the order is wait. Now what the order was war back in chapter 14, the order was walk back in chapters 12 and 13, now the order is wait. Learn how to wait. By the way, if children do not learn how to wait, they'll not likely learn anything else that's worth learning. We have to learn how to wait.

Open your Bible to the book of Romans, Romans 4. Talks about Abraham. Romans 4:20 gives to us the first mark of real faith. Romans 4:20, "He," Abraham, "did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God." Now, there's the first test. Is what I am doing for the glory of God? Keep that in mind now. Test number one, is what I am doing for the glory of God?

Now test number two is found in Romans 10:11. Romans 10:11, "For the Scripture says, 'Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.'" That's a quotation of Isaiah 28:16. So let me give you Isaiah 28:16. "Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.'" Did you get that? "Whoever believes will not act hastily." "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." Put the two together. When you act hastily, you end up being put to shame. Now here are two tests of faith. Faith is for God's glory. If it's really by faith, I'm willing to wait, I'm not going to act hastily.

Thirdly, Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Romans 10:17. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Can I base what I'm doing on the Word of God? That's the third test.

And the fourth test is Romans 15:13. Romans 15:13, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." What do you have in believing? Joy and peace.

Now here are four tests of Bible faith. Someone says, "I'm going to start a new business by faith. I'm going to write a check by faith. I'm going to go to the mission field by faith. We're going to build a new church building by faith." How do you know it's faith? Test number one, is it for the glory of God? Romans 4:20. Test number two, are we impatient or are we willing to wait? Romans 10:11, Isaiah 28:16. Test number three, is it based on the Word of God? Can I back it up with Scripture? Romans 10:17. And finally, do I have joy and peace in my heart in spite of circumstances? No matter what's going on around me, is there a joy and a peace in my heart because I'm believing God? That's Romans 15:13.

Now apply those four tests to what Abraham and Sarah did here. Test number one, was it for God's glory? Of course not. It was to please his wife. Now there's nothing wrong with pleasing your wife, but if pleasing your wife means disobeying the Lord, that's quite another story. Adam listened to Eve and plunged all of mankind into sin and death and judgment. Abraham listened to his wife, and the result was the birth of Ishmael, and Ishmael and his descendants have been enemies of the Jewish people for centuries. Was it for God's glory? No, it was to keep peace in the household. Alas, it did not bring peace to the household.

Secondly, were they willing to wait? Of course not. That was the whole problem. Now Abraham, being the spiritual leader in this home, should have said, "Now Sarai, I know that you are impatient, I know that we both would like to have a son. However, God had said it would be in His time. He's in charge. We're going to wait." But it's hard to wait. Of course it's hard to wait. It's very difficult. Here they were getting older and older, and that's the reason God wanted them to wait. When Abraham was 99 years old and his wife was 89 years old, God came and said, "All right, next year you're going to have a son." God had to wait until they were physically dead, as it were, so that He could get all the glory. Were they willing to wait? No, they were in haste and the result was tragic.

Thirdly, was it based on the Word of God? You will notice in the life of Abraham that often God speaks to Abraham. "The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying..." "The word of the Lord said this, the word of the Lord said that." We don't find that in chapter 16. We don't find it written here, "Now the word of the Lord came to Abraham, saying, 'You shall marry the Egyptian maid Hagar, and I will give you a son.'" No, this was all human scheming. Faith is living without scheming. There's an interesting question in Galatians 3:3, "Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?" Now Abraham had begun in the Spirit. The God of glory appeared to Abraham, the voice of God spoke to Abraham. God guided him, God protected him, God was his shield, his reward. Here is Abraham all wrapped up in God. And yet, what is he doing here? He's scheming. He's doing it on his own.

Hagar was an Egyptian. My guess is that Sarai picked her up down in Egypt as a part of the dowry that Pharaoh gave because he thought he was going to marry Sarah. Genesis 12:16, "He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants." That's probably where Hagar came from. Everything that you get from the world out of the will of God is going to create some problem for you. She was an Egyptian, and Abraham the man of faith had gone down to Egypt, he had sinned against God, he brought some of Egypt back with him. It was Egypt that got Lot into trouble. Genesis 13:10, when Lot lifted up his eyes and he compared the plain of Jordan to the land of Egypt. That whole experience in Egypt created problems for Lot and for Abraham and for Sarah.

You notice how subtle is Sarah's suggestion in verse 2? She blames the Lord. "The Lord has restrained me from bearing children." Instead of saying that the Lord has promised we're going to have a son, let's just wait and see what kind of a miracle He's going to do. No, she blames the Lord. And then when trouble comes, she blames other people. She blamed her husband, verse 5. "My wrong be upon you! The Lord judge between you and me." Do we have here joy and peace? Just the opposite. When we walk by faith, there may be difficult circumstances—famines and wars and problems—but there's a joy and a peace. No, they had trouble. What causes wars and fightings among God's people? Well, selfishness. James chapter 4 tells us that. There was no joy and peace in the home, and there has not been much joy and peace between the descendants of Abraham and the descendants of Ishmael ever since.

Now why is patience so important? Well, the book of James was written among other things to talk to us about patience. When you have patience, it shows you have completeness of character. James 1:2, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." When a person exercises believing patience, it's a mark of character being developed. When a child does not learn patience, that child will not learn the alphabet, haven't got time to learn how to read. When a child doesn't have patience, he won't learn the scale, won't learn anything. Patience is the first lesson we must learn if we're going to learn anything else. Patience gives us completeness of character.

Secondly, patience helps us to have self-control. James 1:12, "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him." It makes a king out of you. There is a book that's been out for many years called The Kingship of Self-Control. James is saying that when you have patience, you can control yourself. Better is he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city. "He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls." Proverbs 25:28.

So patience gives us kingliness of life. It makes a king out of us. Those who don't have patience are slaves—slaves of circumstances, slaves of people, slaves of their own feelings, their own impatience. James chapter 5 tells us that patience produces fruit. Verse 7, "Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it." When you have patience, you can wait for God to bring the crop, the fruitfulness from your life. Verse 11 of chapter 5 says that patience also brings to us happiness. "Indeed we count them blessed," happy, "who endure." Well, we'll continue this study tomorrow. Meanwhile, let's learn how to exercise faith and patience to the glory of God.

[Interview]

Thanks for joining us. Now, let's drop in on a conversation with Back to the Bible CEO Arnie Cole and Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe.

So Warren, how do we focus on God's promises and not get hung up on explanations?

That's a problem. It's hard. There are times when I've got to take what I call—I don't know if this is a good word or not—I call it a blessing break. You know, people have coffee breaks and tea breaks and whatever else. I find I have to have blessing breaks. Sometimes I'm standing in the line at the grocery store, waiting to be served, and I just pause and try to have a blessing break, which means lay hold of some attribute of God, lay hold of some promise of God and just let it run through your system. And if we do that, we're not likely to be afraid, we're not likely to want to run away. When we meditate on the Word—"Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee"—when we lay hold of the Word and the wonderful attributes of God, it calms us down. When I find myself in a hurry and rushing about, I know I'm heading for trouble. And so I've got to go and have a blessing break. Now, that's hard to do in a busy life. And then the Lord says to me, "Well, you're too busy. It's about time you drop some things." I just thank God for every test He's put me through. One night I was driving home, a driver came around the curve on a highway, going about eighty miles an hour and he was drunk, and he slammed right into my car. When they got me to the hospital, the chaplain of the hospital told my wife I wouldn't last out the night. A very encouraging guy. Wow. But I did last the night, and I'm still here now. Yes, you are. Because God in His marvelous, marvelous grace took me through the test. It was a hard test, a very hard test. Now we look back and say, "Praise the Lord, I wouldn't have missed it."