A Hope Fulfilled - Advent DevotionalSample

It appears as though the promise of God to Abraham had tarried and the waiting unforeseeable. Interestingly, Abraham is promised a seed through Sarah, and the heir to the promise singled out “Isaac.” Prior to God’s confirmatory response, two times Abraham had cast doubt at the promise; “shall a child be born to a man/woman who is a hundred and ninety years old respectively?”; and will Ishmael be his begotten son? But Abraham’s reaction (falling on his face and laughing) does not repudiate God’s promises over his life. God’s opening rejoinder, “Yes” or “Indeed,” is an emphatic phrase signifying His Word does not return void without accomplishing what He purposed. Subsequently, the clause in the promise prognosticates how future kings will come from both Sarah and Abraham. While the time between the received promise and its fulfillment is scanty, Matthew later confirms the fulfillment of the initially astonishing promise to Abraham (Matthew 1:1-2, 16).

What do you do when the promises of God contravene our current prevailing situations? On one hand, the promise says, “By His stripes, we are healed,” yet the medical diagnosis reveals a declining dire health report. The look at the current economic report contradicts the prosperity promised to Abraham’s descendants. Like Abraham, many times, the feelings of anxiety overwhelm our abilities and cause us to question God’s promises over our lives. The passage reminds us that our faith in God does not deny the reality of life. It reveals a God who listens to the fears and concerns of His children but steps in to tranquil them: “Yes, but your wife will bear you a son.” In the words of Joshua, “Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled” (Joshua 21:45). In this season, the text inspires us to stand on the promises of God.

Prayer

Every day and night, I cry out to you Lord, “How long, Lord?” will I wait for my vindication and breakthrough? Rend the heavens and harken to my plea. But I pray that you teach and give me the grace to wait on the fulfillment of your promises over my life and those around me.

Boniface Odong, Ph.D., serves as assistant professor of Biblical Studies for the Regent University School of Divinity.