By Penny Williams
“Then the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh
and say, “Will I really have a child now that I am old?” Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will
return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a
son.” Ge. 18:13&14 NIV
No wonder Sarah laughed, they were both well over
the age of child bearing. Sarah was barren and more than anything she desired
to bear a son for Abraham. Could she possibly place such a youthful hope in her
heart and believe what the Lord said to Abraham?
Like Sarah, we all have our many appointed times.
Sarah’s appointed time to give birth to Isaac (whose name means “one laughs”)
wasn’t until she was yet another year older at the age of 90, Abraham was 100. I
call them the dynamic duo. I believe her
laughter was coupled with a youthful heart. Sarah’s youthful laughter could
have been the prerequisite to that hope. When she dared to believe, she
conceived the seed of faith and became pregnant with Isaac. We know how God
honors faith.
Perhaps the answer to your prayers hasn’t manifested
in the physical yet. A long time ago I had a Pastor tell me “sometimes God says
no.” I didn’t like to hear that truth, but I knew it was truth. I had to search
my heart to see if I was praying in God’s will. There are times He withholds
things because He knows they wouldn’t be good for us. When we end up doing
things our way instead of God’s way we walk through the consequences of our disobedient
impatience and eventually learn “Father knows best” after all.
Think for a moment, about what happens behind the
scenes when we lift up a prayer to God. Many times there are different people
involved that He has to work with in some way, some are moved geographically,
others physically, hearts have to be touched and lives begin to communicate a
change before you begin to see the answer in the flesh. All this can take hours
or years in the invisible/spiritual realm before it is carried out in His
appointed time. This “invisible work” could be something like a domino effect
or walking through a maze. God acts, but He never changes and continues to
abide by his principles with the truth of His word.
What looks like a tragedy will be turned around many
times for praise and gratitude for God. He uses all things for His glory. What
was once used for the spirit of darkness is turned around to give God praise,
glory and all honors.
When I go through a time of testing, I pray and then
wonder how God is going to work in this situation and He always comes through.
Look for it and expect it, God never fails.
As I mentioned, we do not usually see the work in
progress, if we did; it wouldn’t be faith. There are times though when God does
allow us to see the early beginnings of an answered prayer like that of a
flower getting ready to bloom and oh, how our heart leaps for joy. When our
Father allows us to see the start of something so beautiful, our faith is
watered and we know inside we’ve won that battle and passed the test of faith!
Is anything too small
or hard for the Lord? Not a thing. He
cares about everything that is going on in your life. Never give up! No matter
what you are going through, you can have the peace of knowing that God will
stay by your side and take you through the whole process and as there are times
when you feel like you are walking through the fire, you are getting stronger
and becoming refined by the heat just like the diamond God has appointed you to
be. All in His appointed time.
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