Learning To Wait, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Trust God and wait. Trust God and wait. You see, Abraham and Sarah did not do that. I'm sympathetic to them, 10 years. I mean, I'm 85, my wife's 75, child of promise, come on.

Either way, they have to wait a lot longer because they didn't learn the lesson of waiting. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world.

God requires faith that waits when it comes to his promises and his plans. By the way, the poor girl is in a dilemma in verse seven. And now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness by the spring on the way to Shur.

Now, if you would look at a map, you would find out that Shur is part of the caravan trail that leads all the way from Syria down through Canaan and goes to Egypt. She's trying to hook up with a caravan if she can and find her way, but she's completely alone and pregnant. Look who takes the initiative here. This is divine intervention. It says here that the angel of the Lord found her. The angel of the Lord, not an angel of the Lord. This is the angel of the Lord. This is the second person of the Trinity.

This is the Son of God who becomes our Lord Jesus Christ. Shows up all the way through Genesis, the angel of the Lord. You see it in Exodus, you see it in Second Samuel, you see it in Zachariah. Once Jesus Christ comes on the scene, never in the New Testament is there ever a reference again to the angel of the Lord. This is a theophany. And notice that the Lord takes the initiative here.

And by the way, you can see the authority of God because the Son of God is God the whole way through this narrative now. The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarah is made. Where have you come from?

And where are you going? Isn't it interesting how he comes and asks questions? Remember Genesis 2, Adam, where are you?

By the way, these are rhetorical questions, God already knows the answers. And I got to believe she's stunned. He asked her two questions. Where have you come from?

Where are you going? She only answers one question. And that's sufficient to him. She only answers one question. She says where she's from. Just imagine how she feels. She has to be stunned. Remember, she's an Egyptian. So she's in Pharaoh's court. Everything's going well, another lady's being added to the harem, nothing unusual there.

You're assigned to her. All of a sudden, everybody in Pharaoh's court's getting sick. Pharaoh's representatives come in and say to this one woman, this Sarai woman, you've got to leave, take this handmaiden with you. So instead of being in the palace, she's in tents in the land of Canaan. Now she comes up part of the deal because she has no rights.

My husband is going to conceive a child with you, she does. Then they start hitting heads between her and Sarai. Now she's on her way to Egypt. And out of it all, this God that Abram talked about that I'm sure she was very skeptical of shows up and begins to talk to her. I'm sure she's just stunned by this whole thing. But it does say something about the Lord, doesn't it?

It really showed us that God really does care, even in the middle of our dilemmas. She said to him, I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai. Wow. She's honest.

This woman has made my life miserable. You know, his showing up showed how much he cares. But one thing I notice about when the Lord shows up and has discussions with people in the scriptures, he kind of just gets to the point. Now he does care, he's empathetic, no question, and he's sympathetic. But he doesn't say much, like he didn't say, oh now, now I know how you feel.

He doesn't talk like that. In fact, it says, then the angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit yourself to her authority. No bargaining, no discussion, return and submit. By the way, you read all the way through the Bible and even in the New Testament, whenever we drift away from the Lord, he says the exact same thing to us. Return, that's what repentance means by the way, and submit. Return, submit. I return and I submit to my Lord. I return and I submit to my Lord.

He's infinitely patient with this. But he says to her, you need to return and you need to submit. But he says more. He says, moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.

Wow. At first you must have thought, oh boy, now I've got to go back. But that verse right there says, I will give you hope. You see, we think about that verse and we say that's a lot like when he spoke to Abram and she's going to have a lot of descendants.

There's so many you can't count them. I don't think that meant a thing to her as a young girl. I think what meant to her was this. If that's true, my baby's going to live. You see, my baby's going to live. If I'm going to have so many descendants, then my baby's going to live. And I'm sure she's euphoric to hear that from this angel of the Lord.

I will greatly multiply your descendants so that there will be too many to count. And the angel of the Lord said to her, further, behold, you are with child and you shall bear the greatest news she could heard in that world, a son. Not just the child, but a son, which means an heir in that world. And so, wow, I'm going to have a son. And maybe the most important part of this whole chapter is this next phrase, and you shall call his name Ishmael.

Why is that so important? You shall call his name God hears. You have a dilemma? God hears. You see, God hears. She was thinking she was in a hopeless situation, but he is saying, you're not hopeless at all.

I hear. She was crying by herself by a well when all of a sudden the angel of the Lord showed up. And he showed up because he said, I hear. And when you have this little boy born, you're going to name him Ishmael. God hears. You've never had a dilemma in your whole life that God doesn't hear.

In fact, there's even more to it than even that. Behold, you are with child and you shall bear a son and you shall call his name Emmanuel, because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. God not only hears, God cares. You could call it an affliction or you simply could call it a dilemma, but God hears. If you're in a dilemma in your life right now, God says, look, I hear and I care.

I'm here. Then he says something that's more amusing to us than probably it should be. It certainly wasn't to them. And he will be a wild donkey of a man. I don't know if you have ever had sons, your aspirations for him wasn't really that I don't think. Well, I hope he grows up to be a wild donkey of a man. And their culture meant a lot.

That's a tremendous compliment. Wild donkeys are admired. You see, they're not broken in by anybody. They live their own life on their own. They're known for their cunning and their strength. They are a valued and admired animal. They roam where they want to roam. You see, they just go where they want to go.

They're not herded by anybody. He's referring to the idea that he will be a free-living, tent-dwelling Bedouin. That's what he's going to be. He will be a wild donkey of a man. And it says then his hand will be against everyone.

The word hand is a metaphor. It means his strength. In other words, he said he will be a wild donkey of a man. He'll go where he wants. He'll find himself in a nomadic lifestyle.

He will fight with everyone. He's the father of the Arab race, Ishmael. Isn't that interesting? 4,000 years later, the Arabs are willing to fight?

Everyone. It's an interesting history. It's a fascinating story. That's who they are. And even in Islam, Ishmael becomes the child of promise to them because they know that's who they are. It's an interesting thing, though, that he said his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand will be against him. Wow. That's something. And then he says, and he will live in the east of all of his brothers.

That's a whole part of what we call the Arab world. There is a divine intervention. God hears and God cares. And then she gives a very faithful response in verse 13. She says, then she called the name of the Lord and who spoke to her and said, You are a God who sees.

You see, I have a dilemma and you see. You are a God who sees, for she said, Have I even remained alive here after seeing him? She knows there's something, so this is God. This is the angel of the Lord. I am amazed that I stood in his presence, that I've seen him. I'm amazed I'm still alive here. She has such respect, not just for his providence, but for his holiness and for his greatness. Wow.

Her response. Verse 14. Moses writes this. Therefore, the well was called Beer Lehi Roy.

Behold, it is between Kadesh and Barad. What's that mean? Well, it's kind of a play on words. The well is now named, not what it was, but it's renamed. God loves to do that. The well now means the well of the living one who sees me. So every time you went there, you went to the well of the living one who sees me. So what do you see here? In our dilemma, God sees, God hears, God cares. That's exactly the same as in your dilemmas.

God sees, you see, God hears, God cares. Therefore what should I do? Trust God and wait. Trust God and wait.

You see, Abraham and Sarah, I did not do that. I'm sympathetic to them, 10 years. I mean, I'm 85, my wife's 75, child of promise, come on.

By the way, they have to wait a lot longer because they didn't learn the lesson of waiting. Wow. Keith Creel writes this. God sees you where you are and he cares for you as you are. God sees our mistakes and yet treats them with mercy. He sees our sufferings and in his appointed time has plans to bring them to an end. We may sometimes feel that God is unconcerned about us but he is faithful and always hears and sees the misery of his people.

That's a lesson for us. And I love the next word in verse 15, so. You see, because God intervened and God sees and God hears and God cares, so. Hagar bore Abram a son, just like God said. And Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Just like she told him, I'm sure she told him the story, God hears.

Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael. Wow. Trying to accomplish God's plans by worldly methods inevitably leads to unwanted consequences and God requires faith and trust that waits when it comes to his plans and his promises. We're still left with a question, though. Then when do I act in the middle of an dilemma and when do I wait?

When do I trust? What's the difference? Well, I think we act for two different conditions.

One is this. We take action when God has clearly given us the responsibility and the authority to do so. We take action when God has clearly given us the responsibility and the authority to do so.

God never gave Abram and Sarah the responsibility to produce the child. I will give you an heir. In fact, in Galatians chapter 4, Paul wrote this, Ishmael was the result of the work of the flesh. That's what he was.

He was the result of the best of human ingenuity. We take action when God has clearly given us the responsibility and authority to do so. Secondly, we take action only when our actions align with the word of God.

Now, here's the trouble. When you're in a dilemma or you're suffering, have anxiety or anguish, it emotionally affects you. And when it emotionally affects you, you react emotionally, which almost always has undesirable consequences. You have the dilemma of a difficult marriage.

Many of you have had those. What's our temptation? I quit. I'm out. I'm fouling.

I'm just doing it. What did God say? He said, I hate divorce. And there are only a couple conditions in Scripture where it even could be tolerated. But notice you say, no, no, you don't understand how I feel.

No. But your actions don't align with the word of God. You have difficult relationships. You're trying to think of all kinds of ways to deal with those. You've had a lot of pain or angst.

It came your way. What's the word of God say? It's real clear. Paul wrote in Ephesians, you are to forgive as Christ forgives you.

It's as simple as something can be forward. You forgive as you've been forgiven. You see, boy, in that kind of dilemma, though, I don't want to. You see, I don't want to.

Yes. And you will have consequences, however delayed, to trying a different approach than God's. Money problems.

Same idea. Only in America, by the way, will we try to solve our money problems by going further in debt. Like, you know, I've really got a problem, but I got this new credit card and I can actually pay off my other credit cards with this one. What did God say?

The borrower, you see, is the lender slave. That's what God said. Jesus said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all this will be added to you. You see, you're always facing in our dilemma, do I want to do it by the energy of the flesh?

Do I want to do it with approval of the world or do I want to do it the way God said? But I can tell you this, often when God is saying what needs to be done, God is also saying something else. You have to trust me.

And that means you have to wait. Oh, we hate that. You see, we hate that.

Just think of that. We're Americans. We invented a term that's nowhere else in the history of the world. We invented a term called fast food. You're hungry? Yeah, yeah, I'm going to get some fast food. I don't want to have to wait.

That's who we are. We have express lines at the checkout. And boy, if you see somebody with over 20 items, you're livid. And the reason for it is simple because I do not want to wait. We can get information about anything in the world and as soon as we do, we end up telling a friend of ours, I cannot believe how slow the download speed was. I waited like eight seconds for that information. Do you realize in the history of the world some of the information you can access in eight seconds?

You would have had to travel hundreds of miles, travel, to get to a spot where you might be able to read something about that information. But we want faster download speeds. It has to be instantaneous. So considering our social conditioning, when God says, and He inevitably will, you wait. You just wait. We don't like to wait. But we have to learn to wait.

That's what Sarah and Abram had to do. Richard Hendricks says this, second only to suffering, waiting may be the greatest teacher and trainer in godliness, maturity, and genuine spirituality most of us will ever encounter. Because waiting takes faith.

Chuck Swindoll, you might find yourself in Abram's predicament right now. And you're praying the great American prayer, Lord, hurry up. You want answers now. You want his blessing now. And you're convinced you've waited long enough. Waiting is difficult. And you want progress.

And so your great temptation when the Lord doesn't appear to be doing anything is to get things going yourself. Your predicament has dragged on for too long and you're sick and tired of it. My advice, Swindoll writes, wait. Just that word, wait. W-A-I-T. That's the acrostic.

W. The W is for wait. Just wait. Walk a little slower. You see, walk a little slower. Just slow down.

Don't be in such a hurry. How about this? Pray.

You see, how about this? This is pray. Walk a little slower, the W. The A. Ask. Ask God for increased patience, wisdom and self-control in your life.

Because we don't want to have it when we're waiting. If you're still feeling anxiety or anger or fear, that means you haven't prayed enough. It means you need to keep on praying. Walk a little slower. Ask God for increased wisdom, patience, self-control.

I. Imagine. Imagine the worst case scenario of waiting on God. Just imagine what the worst case scenario will be if you have to wait on God. And lastly, the T. Think of the others who will be impacted by your decision to act and run ahead of God's will.

Think of the other people that will be impacted if you do that. W. A. I. T. I know it's hard to wait, but I just want to reinforce this idea. God sees. God hears. And God cares. And sometimes God is saying to us in the middle of a dilemma what he said through the psalmist. Be still. And know that I am God.

Let's pray. Father, there are only two groups here this morning. Those who are in a dilemma and those who will soon be in one. Father, this lesson that we can learn from Genesis 16 is important to us. We are so tempted to run ahead of you, so intent on fixing our own problem. But when we do, we lack the biblical judgment that we need and we go about it with the wrong methods. And then we reap what we sow. Father, I pray that we learn the lesson from Abram and Sarai. And Father, I pray that if we're in the midst of a dilemma now. And that the actions that we take can't be clearly supported biblically. And that we don't have your God-given authority to deal with it at this moment. That we have the patience to wait. And the patience to trust you. Father, I pray that we learn the lesson that they so dearly needed to learn. To learn to wait. In Christ's name.

Amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time.

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