wait on Him... Acts 1:4-5...

And while staying with them [Jesus] ordered them not to depart

from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father,

which, he said, "you heard from me; for John baptized with water,

but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

Acts 1:4-5 ESV

...wait for the promise of the Father...

Jesus's instruction to His followers...

...wait... for... the... promise...

A promise from the Father is sure...

it will come to pass...

He cannot lie...

He has the power to bring about whatever He promises...

His promises are always better than what we come up with...

His promises are worth the wait...

but when we don't wait well...

we can make matters worse...

Abram and Sarai come to mind...

the geriatric couple whose names were changed to Abraham and Sarah...

and to whom God promised a child...

Sarai... she got tired of waiting...

and came up with a plan...

And Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now,

the Lord has prevented me from bearing children.

Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her."

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

Genesis 16:2 ESV

Interesting logic... the God who promised prevented her from having a child... so she came up with a plan of her own... apparently waiting... was not an option...

The problem of working out His promises our way...

is they turn out to be more trouble... than blessing...

Sarai's impatience birthed Ishmael...

"... He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone

and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility

toward all his brothers."

Genesis 16:12 NIV

When the promise did come to pass...

Sarah and Abraham bore Isaac...

but Ishmael caused problems for his brother...

the son of promise...

Eventually both Ishmael and his mom were removed from the household of Abraham...

Ishmael... like Isaac...

birthed a great nation...

he had twelve sons...

princes according to their tribes...

Tradition has it...

one of Ishmael's sons was the ancestor of the prophet Mohammed...

the father of Islam...

and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers...

The hostility between Isaac and Ishmael continues today...

because someone couldn't wait... for God's promise...

Jesus says...

wait for the promise of the Father...

therefore... WAIT...

resist impatience...

don't try to make His promise come to pass your way...

His way is always better...

it just requires... waiting...

What are you waiting for...? are you tempted to manipulate circumstances...?

Consider carefully what you might birth...

then choose to wait...

for what He has promised...

Amen...