THEME: PLEASE WAIT

TEXT: GENESIS 16:1-16

DATE: 3RD MARCH, 2024

AIM: To teach that waiting on God is key to peaceful and fulfilled life.

1. To teach that the promise of God may tarries, yet it will come

INTRODUCTION:

Abram and Sarai had trouble believing God’s promise and began thinking up creative ways to manipulate events and have a child (Genesis 16:1-3). A married woman who could not have children was shamed by her peers and was often required to give a female servant to her husband to produce an heir. The children born to the servant woman were considered the children of the wife.

When Sarai gave Hagar to Abram, they were acting in line with the custom of the day, but this action revealed their lack of faith that God would fulfill his promise. Consequently, a series of problems arose. This invariably happens when we take over for God and try to fulfill his promises through efforts that are not in line with his specific directions. In this case, time provided the greatest test of Abram and Sarai’s faith and their willingness to let God work in their lives.

Sometimes, we, too, must simply wait. When we ask God for something and have to wait, we are tempted to take matters into our own hands and interfere with God’s plans. Do your continual prayers seem to go unanswered? Do you feel yourself getting impatient with God as you wait for him to fulfill his promise and meet your need? Consider what God might be teaching you in the process. Obey God and trust him for the outcome.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

1. What does it mean to wait on God?
2. Why do Christians find it difficult to wait on God today? (1 Sam. 13:8-11, 2 Tim. 1:7, 1Pet. 5:7, Gen. 16:1-4)
3. Read (Heb. 11:6, Isa. 40:29-31, 1sam. 2:15) and explain how waiting on God can benefit how life.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: trusting and waiting on God are virtues and not weakness.

MEMORY VERSE: Isa. 40:31