One of the most famous engagement rings in the world is the engagement ring that Prince William recently gave Kate Middleton—that of his mother, Princess Diana—a large sapphire surrounded by diamonds.
Western tradition is such that when a man proposes marriage to a girl, the proposal is accompanied by an engagement ring. It is something to be worn by the woman to remind her that she is engaged and of the promise to marry. The couple then enters the engagement—that is, the period of time between proposal and marriage—which may be short or lengthy.
In the same way, when we receive a promise from God it is something to be valued, treasured and held onto. And like the length of an engagement varies, so does the length of the time lapse between the promise of God and its fulfillment.
A promise is the assurance that God gives to His people so they can walk by faith while they wait for Him to work. —Anonymous
The question is, what is our role during that time? What do we need to do to see the fulfillment of God’s promise to us? We can learn a lot from Abraham and Sarah as they lived through the period from when God promised them a son, and the fulfillment of that promise with the birth of Isaac.
The Promise - “Then the word of the Lord came to him ‘This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir’” (Genesis 15:4).
The Fulfillment - “Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him” (Genesis 21:1).
But in between were many years of waiting and lessons learned.
In Genesis 16 Sarah gets involved and decides to build her family through her maidservant. Sarah is taking it into her own hands to force the promise to come to pass without God! Even worse is that Abraham agreed to this without consulting God about it. Perhaps due to his and Sarah’s enthusiasm for the fulfillment of the promise, they looked to the flesh and their own reasoning and ability to accomplish the promise of God.
God is not restrained to natural logic.
When Sarah gave birth to Isaac, she was well past childbearing age—it was a biological impossibility for her to bear children. God is not bound or restricted by the laws of nature. He controls nature!
When Dean and I were selling our house, the property headlines at the time included House Prices Down; Mortgage Rates Could Rise Quickly; Sales Lowest in Years; and House Listings Up but Glut Remains. Everything in the natural world suggested we were not going to be able to sell. But we held firmly to the promise from God of our house selling and we put our trust in Him and what He was saying and not the newspaper, the agents or the market.
As Benny Hinn once said, “Faith doesn’t ignore the facts; faith ignores the power of the facts.”
God acts in His timing, not ours.
We live in an age where everything is fast paced, from instant communication to fast food. We all have an ideal of the best time for God’s promises to be fulfilled, but we need to realize that God knows the best time frame for the events of our lives to take place. We see but a fragment of our lives at a time, but God sees our lives even into eternity. Waiting for God’s timing can be difficult, but it is much better for our future.
We are interested in right now, while God is interested in our eternity. Often we experience disappointment due to our belief that something has to be done by a certain time. We then miss the blessings (and the lessons) that God has for us in the waiting time. God is faithful and He will be true to His promises at the right time—His time! Remember, our times are in His hands (Psalm 31).
Bill Johnson once wrote, “You can only hold on to one thing at a time—the promise of God or disappointment. You’ll have to drop one to embrace the other.” Don’t let what you see as delay of God’s promise being fulfilled lead you to disappointment.
God’s promises don’t rely on our ability to believe or understand.
God told Sarah she would have a son in one year. Sarah laughed in disbelief at the promise. Even so, despite her skepticism, one year later she was holding her very own son. Sometimes we cannot comprehend how God is going to fulfill His promise to us. From our perspective it can seem an impossibility. But as Bill Johnson said, “The walk of faith is to live according to the revelation we have received, in the midst of the mysteries we can’t explain.”
God’s promises are not dependent on our actions.
The Bible says that God extended grace to Sarah. She had tried to force it to happen, she had even laughed in the face of God over it. But God fulfilled His promise.
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. —Genesis 21:1
God’s promises are based on His ability to fulfill them, not on our worthiness to receive them.
Conclusion
Faith is our required response in our partnership with God that results in His power being released into the natural realm. Don’t let time and circumstances allow doubt to creep into your mind. God can do great and mighty things in your life! God’s promises are for you and you don’t have to do or be anything to receive His promises! It may take longer than you think or wish, but in time He will accomplish in you all that He desires as you grow in relationship to Him. He is the Promise Keeper!
God promises that “those who hope in me will not be disappointed” (Isaiah 47:23).
We need to remember that the validity of God’s promises rest on His character and His resources. The Bible tells of God’s faithfulness, His mighty works and the abundance of His resources. We know through the Bible that God can change what seems unchangeable. He can make the impossible possible.
He who promises is faithful. —Hebrews 10:23
All the promises in Him are yes and in Him Amen to the glory of God through us. —2 Corinthians 1:20
Copyright © by Philippa Smyth
This post was written by...
Philippa Smyth – who has written 13 posts on Positively Feminine.
Philippa Smyth is from Auckland, New Zealand and is mom to two little boys—Micah and Toby. She works alongside her husband who is the Ministries Director for their church—The River of Life Christian Church Auckland. Together they are passionate about seeing people empowered and enabled to walk out their callings in Christ Jesus. Philippa loves writing and teaching about the Lord. Follow her on her blog: My Sacred Obsession or check out her church website. Philippa welcomes any emails to philippa@theriver.org.nz. Philippa’s column, FaithWorks , is posted bimonthly on PositivelyFeminine.org.
