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. Waiting! No one likes to wait. Why? Because we want everything now.
2. How many bad decisions have been made due to impatience?

ILLUS – Buying my first car

3. In Genesis 15, we are told that God promised Abraham that an heir would come from his own body, even though he was very old.
4. After considering God’s promise, his old age, and the character of the One who promised, we are told that. . .

Genesis 15:6, Abram believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

5. Genesis 15 could be characterized as Abraham’s “mountain-top experience with God.”
6. But quickly we’re brought to the “valley of testing” in Genesis 16.
7. In fact, the impact of the decision made in Genesis 16 is felt to this very day. Why?
8. Because Abraham and Sarah failed to wait for God’s best.
9. From this passage, we will uncover faith-building principles to help us “Wait for God’s Best.”

Genesis 16:1-6

I. God Knows Our Pain (1)

A. Sarah’s Pain: No Child
1. For Sarah, Abraham’s wife, it was being childless, that was her deepest wound.
2. For Abraham, the matter was settled in Genesis 15; he would have a son from his own, old body.
3. For Sarah, the matter was unresolved in her heart.
4. Abraham was specifically mentioned, but Sarah was not.
5. Yet, it is implied, taken for granted that Sarah was included.
a. Note: Emphasis on “Abram’s wife.” (1)
b. Conclusion: Sarah is included.
6. Children are a blessing from God.
7. In that day, there was great stigma for those who were childless.
a. No child? “There must be sin in your life.”
b. No child? “You must be cursed by God.”
8. Their culture believed that parents lived on through their children. So, you were cursed with extinction if childless.

APPL – Whatever the issue, struggle, or pain; God knows your pain and God cares for you. You can bring your deepest wounds, anxieties, and fears to your Father in heaven.

1 Peter 5:6-7, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.

B. Sarah’s Temptation: Hagar’s available
1. Hagar was an Egyptian maid.
a. She was young and beautiful.
b. She was loyal and trusted, it appeared.
c. But as an Egyptian, Hagar was outside of the covenant that God established with Abraham.
d. Hagar was acquired because of compromise: Abram’s words to Sarai, “Say you are my sister so that it may go well with me.” (Gen 12:10-20)

Genesis 12:15-16, Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.

APPL – Notice that one compromise sets the stage for the next compromise.

James 1:14-15, But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

APPL – All of us are tempted. Temptation is not sin.

Hebrews 4:15, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

• It’s what we do with the temptation that determines victory or defeat.

2 Corinthians 10:5, We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ

2. By the way, God struck Pharaoh’s house with a plague to protect Sarah and His promise to Abraham through her. But the table was set for the next compromise.

II. God Wants Our Faith, Not Our Help (2-3)

A. Sarah’s Assessment: “It’s God’s fault!”
1. Sarah told Abraham, “Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children.” (2)
a. God closes the womb.
b. In 1 Samuel 1:5-6, it is mentioned twice in two verses that “the Lord had closed” Hannah’s womb.

Pastor Rich Jones
Pastor Matthew Dodd
Rich Jones Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel Worship Center
Calvary Chapel Hillsboro
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