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DECEMBER 2
GENESIS 21:1–7

So much of our fear, discouragement, anxiety, and worry is the
result of underestimating what God is willing and able to do.

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Rest and patience of heart are not found in figuring out what
is going on or conjuring up in our minds how in the world
God is going to do what he’s promised us that he would do. Rest
and patience of heart are found in trusting the one who has it all
figured out and knows exactly how he will accomplish what he has
promised he will do. We are limited human beings. We all carry
spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical limits with us wherever
we go. We are all limited in righteousness, wisdom, and strength.
Unless we are resting in the presence and power of the Lord, we
will evaluate situations from the perspective of our many limits.
This means that what appears to us to be completely impossible is
quite possible with our Lord. His strength, his understanding, his
compassion, and his grace are infinite.
Sometimes we make good-hearted promises that later we realize
we are unable to keep. We know things need to get done, but we

do not have the power or the wisdom to do them. There is noth-
ing that God has promised to do or that we need him to do that

he is unable to do. Nothing. We have every blessing that we have
because he has the power to control the forces of nature, the events
of history, and the unfolding of situations. Not only has he created
everything, but everything he has created does his bidding. He is
magnificent, almighty in power and wisdom. He can and will do
what he has promised to do.
So God was not limited at all by Abraham or Sarah’s age, any
more than any other human limit would inhibit his ability to do
what he has promised he would do. Genesis 21:1–7 records the

birth of the promised son, Isaac. It also records that Abraham was
one hundred. That’s right: one hundred years old. The God who
is the Lord of heaven and earth is also Lord of the womb of an old
woman, and he can do through it what he has promised to do. He
is the Lord. He is not limited by our weaknesses.
When I read the story of Abraham and Sarah’s long wait for a
promised son, I think of another Son that was promised. The hope
of the world rested on the shoulders of this promised Son, but
as century followed century, it seemed as though this Son would
never come. But one night in a stable in Bethlehem, to a lowly
carpenter and his wife the promised Messiah came. Nothing in all
of those centuries that had passed was able to stop the promise of
God. Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God, the Lamb, the Savior was
born at just the right time to provide justification, reconciliation,
forgiveness, and new life to all who believe. God’s promises are not
limited by human weakness or the passage of time. Don’t give way
to fear; God will do what he has promised to do.

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Prayer

Lord, I stand in awe of your almighty power and wisdom. Thank
you for using these attributes for your own glory and the good of
your people—especially in sending the promised Messiah, your Son,
the Lord Jesus. I praise you in his name, amen.