Why is waiting on God’s timing so difficult for us?
Many of us, especially in our fast-paced, instant-gratification culture, struggle even when we’re waiting for something as simple as a red light to change at an intersection.
But what about waiting for something more significant? A spouse, a child, or even a particular career aim?
How long are you willing to wait on God for these types of relationships or objectives?
What follows next is a study of Genesis 16 highlighting how Sarai took matters into her own hands rather than continue to wait on God’s timing.
What Happens When We Try to Rush God? | A Study of Genesis 16
The first time Sarai appears in Genesis, we are told she was barren. (Genesis 11:30)
Then while Abram and Sarai are in Egypt, the Lord protects Sarai when she’s put in a precarious situation with Pharaoh. (Genesis 12:14-20)
This was likely when Sarai gained Hagar as a servant.
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 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. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. [1]
What reasons does Sarai provide for her suggestion?
Keeping in mind Sarai’s solution to her barrenness was a culturally acceptable practice in her day, using God’s promise to Abram in Genesis 15:2-5 ten years earlier, explain some possibilities why Abram agreed with Sarah’s plan.
4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!”[2]
Knowing the cultural practice of the day, what is wrong with Hagar’s attitude?
Why does Sarai blame Abram?
6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. [3]
Did Abram handle the situation wisely? Why or why not?
How might the way both Abram and Sarai refer to Hagar in verses five and six contribute to the family strife?
What is Hagar’s solution to this strife?
7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.”[4]
There are fifty-eight times in the Old Testament that the phrase “angel of the Lord” appears. Each time the context clarifies that the phrase refers to a visible manifestation of Yahweh, the Lord himself.
Why is it significant that the Lord sought Hagar?
How does the Lord refer to Hagar? Why is this important?
The spring on the way to Shur shows that geographically Hagar was returning to her homeland of Egypt and had probably traveled a fair distance already.
Why didn’t Hagar answer the Lord’s question about where she was heading? What does this reveal about her emotional state?
9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”[5]
On the surface, the Lord’s instruction to Hagar to return and be submissive to Sarai may seem cruel. Aside from correcting Hagar’s contemptuous attitude towards Sarai, what positive reasons would returning to Sarai be in Hagar’s best interest?
10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”[6]
Hagar hadn’t told the Lord she was pregnant. Yet the Lord promises to multiply her offspring even before she has her first child, just as he did for Abram back in Genesis 15.
This makes Hagar unique in that she is the only woman in Genesis who receives this type of promise by the Lord.
What does this tell you about the Lord’s loving care and provision for Hagar, an Egyptian?
11 And the angel of the Lord said to her,
“Behold, you are pregnant
and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
his hand against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” [7]
Why was Hagar instructed to name her child Ishmael? (Ishmael means “God will hear”.)
13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. [8]
What does Hagar focus on from her encounter with the Lord?
Why is this important to the passage?
15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. [9]
What do we learn about Hagar in this last verse of chapter sixteen?
How did Abram know to name Hagar’s child Ishmael?
Why isn’t Sarai mentioned in these last verses?
What Happens When We Try to Rush God? | Personal Application
In Genesis 15:2-5, Abram was told he would have an heir from his own body, but Sarai is yet to be specified as the mother.
After waiting another ten years and still not having borne Abram a child, one can understand that Sarai rushed things along by following a cultural custom.
Yet the result of following the cultural custom was relational strife between Sarai, Hagar, and Abram.
Put yourself in Sarai’s situation for a moment. Your spouse has followed the call of the Lord to go to a land you didn’t know. Next, your spouse tells you to say you are his sister instead of his wife, putting you in jeopardy while in yet another foreign country. Then your spouse receives a promise of an heir from his own body, but you still don’t have any offspring ten years later.
What would you do in that scenario? Start fertility treatments? Adopt? Find a surrogate? Continue to wait? Other? Why?
In studying Genesis 16, what do you learn about God’s grace when we attempt to fulfill the promises he gives us through a cultural practice instead of waiting for his timing?
How have you seen this occur in your own life?
What Happens When We Try to Rush God? | My Story
My experience is that whenever I try to force things to happen, my success rate is subpar, much like Sarai’s was in Genesis 16. Strife and frustrations always follow.
But when I wait on the Lord to act, things always work better in the long run.
It doesn’t mean that things are always easy. After all, Hagar had to return to Sarai and Abram, who treated her as a tool for themselves.
And often, things I believe God has promised take way longer to occur than I expect. Or they look different from when I first understood them.
I know this because I once spent an evening yelling and crying at God, asking two questions about the abuse I experienced in my childhood. The two questions were, “Why?” and “Who am I?”
After I had worn myself out physically, the still small voice spoke three words to me: “You are Barbara.”
At this, a peace came over me that made my need to know why dissolve along with the many tears I had shed.
Of this I am certain; the Lord knows me by name. He sees and hears me just like He did Hagar.
Later in Genesis, Sarai discovers this as well. (See Genesis 18:10-14 and 20:1-7)
He sees and hears you too.
Warmly,
Barbara Lynn
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 16:1–3.
[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 16:4–5.
[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 16:6.
[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 16:7–8.
[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 16:9.
[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 16:10.
[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 16:11–12.
[8] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 16:13–14.
[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 16:15–16.