Scripture Daily

Context No. 3442 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 21:1-7: in context

1The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had spoken. 2Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him. 6Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7She said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

After all the years of waiting and doubting, and even laughing in disbelief, the promise comes true: the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and did to Sarah as he had promised. Isaac is born to a hundred-year-old father and a long-barren mother, exactly at the time God had named.

And Sarah, who once laughed in unbelief behind the tent door, now laughs with joy: God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me. The same woman's laughter turns from doubt to delight. God kept his word at the appointed time, not a moment sooner, though the waiting had seemed impossibly long and the promise impossible on the face of it. The One who promises is faithful; his promises do not fail for being slow, and when at last they come, they turn our doubt into joy and our disbelieving laughter into the laughter of delight.

When God's promises seem impossibly slow, do I trust that he is faithful to fulfill them at his appointed time, turning even my doubt into joy?

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