The sweet, delayed promise: God’s timing vs human expectation
It is said in Fiji that Sevens Rugby is “the game that stops a nation”. I was awake past midnight, filled with excitement and eager expectation for Fiji Sevens’ next match. They had made it to the quarter finals. Even though it was late into the night and tiredness had started to sink in, I shrugged it off, just to watch them play.
I imagine Abraham waiting, for God’s promise to him was also filled with similar expectation, eagerness and excitement, as well as a fight to keep believing as time dragged on. The sweet yet delayed promise of God demonstrated to Abraham that the faithfulness of God knows no delay. But why the wait, we may ask. Abraham saw the fulfilment of God’s promise to him 25 years after he heeded the call to follow God in Genesis 12:1.
The sweet promise
God’s promise to Abraham was sweet and promising to his ears and was one of the greatest reasons he heeded God’s call to leave his family behind. Understanding this key point and verse will set us up to understand how Abraham’s whole journey in following God developed over time. Abraham loved the promise, as it declared that God would make him a great nation. Why did it sound sweet and promising to Abraham? The answer is found in Genesis 11:29,30: “Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife . . . But Sarai was barren; she had no child.” The promise of God was music to Abraham’s ears because they had not been able to bear a child. God’s promise would inevitably mean they would have a child of their own—a requirement of becoming a great nation as God had promised. Thus, we begin to understand why Abraham constantly kept agitating God for the fulfilment of the promise since it was very dear to him (Genesis 15,2,3,8).
The delayed promise
It is through this lens of knowing what the promise meant to Abraham, that we can best understand why God waited 25 years to fulfil His promise. Abraham and Sarah were so consumed and obsessed by the fulfilment of the promise that they could not wait and so humanly constructed an answer to the promise through their maidservant Hagar in Genesis 16. By this action, Ishmael was born. The story of Abraham and Sarah is the story of us all. The human heart is impatient and selfish at best, wanting to get rather than give God lordship over all.
Our wants and life seasons must be given for Him to own and then we can be content because God’s will and promises know no delay.
God’s timing vs human expectation
It is fascinating to notice the point in time at which God’s promise is fulfilled. Abraham and Sarah are old, past all humanly known expectations and experiences for them to be able to bear a child (Genesis 18:11-13). It is at this time that God fulfils His promise—a time when no human options remain, but only God’s possibility is available.
The timing proves to them that God’s promise is fulfilled in His own time and way. May this story be an encouragement to us—that God is faithful and will fulfil His promises. However bleak, long or humanly impossible our present circumstances seem, God will always come through, faithful to His every promise to us.
My story
Like Abraham, I heeded the call of God in my life. I was doing well—already wearing a couple of “hats” through some skills I had earned—as a graphic designer, photographer and videographer. I felt like I had my life planned out. The world was simple. Yet, I heard God’s call to leave what I was doing and follow Him.
I went and volunteered for the Church in Fiji at Hope Studios for three to four months until the end of 2021. As the year transitioned to 2022, I asked God where He wanted to use me.
As 2022 began, I was approached to study theology at Fulton Adventist University College. So I followed God’s leading to be a minister. But there was still a twist to come.
The arrangement for my school fees did not come through. I found myself with one-and-a-half years of study, without any money to pay to continue or pay back the money I owed.
I went back home and, like Abraham, wondered about God’s promise and guidance. I was filled with questions and felt bleak about what the future would hold. I asked God why the wait and what was going on.
I knew it would take more than just a semester or a year to pay my fees back. In this time of trial, I kept praying and resolved that I would just work for a couple of years and return to finish after that.
In school, a new position was being advertised for Adventist Volunteer Service ambassadors and I eagerly applied because it was also something I loved to do—service and practical ministry. To my surprise I was shortlisted with another girl. We interviewed and received the post. The post came at the beginning of 2024 as I was about to leave school for a while. God has been always faithful. The post also provided a full scholarship for my fees, which helped pay for my arrears, with some church members also helping.
This experience was one of the toughest but most fulfilling phases of my life. It proved to me that God is always faithful and taught me to know that God is greater than anything I deem as a blessing. The greatest joy, contentment and blessing is not what we should expect from God but God Himself—the Blessing of blessings.
God is not a man that He should lie. It may seem at times that God doesn’t come through, but God is preparing you to receive the promise and it’s most important to recognise the Giver. God is the Promise of promises, He never will fail you.
Edgar Qalotaki is a theology student, Fulton Adventist University College, Fiji.
