Unknown Timing Moments with God, Vol. 150
Unknown Timing1
By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
Hebrews 11:11
Control – how do I look at control? Not so all goes my way or for a need to be in charge. Instead, to change how things are taking place, so they turn out the “right” way. To fix things for people so everything turns out “the way it should be.”
Control is the power to guide or influence a person’s behavior or events. However, most often I find out I am not in control … nor do I need to be.
Despite taking an unknown journey with God as they walked through married life, Sarai and Abram shared life and faith in God. You don’t see Sarai questioning Abram as God encouraged them to leave all they knew to follow Him to a new land with His special promise. A woman of great faith and love for her husband, she followed Abraham, and together they followed God’s leading. However, Sarai had a faith battle of her own as she continued to age, when the promise of a great nation seemed to become an impossibility.
Knowing God’s covenant, Sarai waited ten long years in the land of their inheritance for a baby of her own. God’s plan is not unknown to her because He had clearly said in His promise to Abram that he could “‘look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be’” (Genesis 15:5). What was unknown to Sarai was how and when His plan would come about.
Sarai decided to move forward with a plan of her own. She tried to orchestrate God’s plan as she had Hagar step in to produce an heir, an acceptable custom in the Near East at the time. Genesis reveals the plan:
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. (Genesis 16:1–2)
However, her plan backfired and caused great heartache. It was not God’s plan. Rather than patiently submitting to God and waiting for His perfect timing, Sarai followed her own plan. In creating her plan, Sarai was essentially saying that God’s plan was not good enough. His timing was not right. Her plan was better. Sarai quickly learned heartache as her plan unfolded with Hagar bearing a child to Abram, and Sarai’s heart filled with jealousy.
God’s plan would come to pass in the way He designed the journey. Sarai had to get to the place of trust in God, of releasing her control, and just having faith that He would fulfill His promise in His way and in His timing. Through many years of lessons and growth, Sarai (now Sarah) did come to that place. She learned that following God’s unknown path brought blessings she could never have orchestrated.
She is remembered in Hebrews 11:11: “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.” She was blessed as an entire nation came through her and Abraham—God’s special people in God’s way and in God’s timing.
Control remains best left in the hands of the Creator of the Universe, who knows the end from the beginning. His ways are not our ways, but His ways will always be the best ways.
- As you try to make things turn out the “right” way, how does that suggest God is not right?
- When things are not the way they “should be,” why do you think you need to change them?
- What are some steps you can take to release control?
When God is in control, things may not be as we think they should be, but they are how God wants them to be.