025 God's Promise:About This Time Next Year

3 minute read that will bless your marriage all week

Happy Thursday! It’s Edward from Elevate Your Marriage. There are more than 60 marriages in the Bible and in this week’s newsletter I want to share 1 of them with you.

Abraham and Sarah: God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15 that he would have descendants as numerous as the sand on the seashore. Though God restated & clarified His promise a few times, Abraham & Sarah at 100 & 90 years old respectively, struggled to understand God’s plan for them. So when God promised they would be parents “about this time next year”  they acted out of their uncertainty and the lessons they learned are good lessons for you and I today…

The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.”… So Sarah laughed to herself… Genesis 18:10 & 12

 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” Genesis 18:14

When God promises He’s going to do something He is going to do that thing, even though we don’t get it. 5 Points to Ponder from their marriage I pray will bless yours:

1. Catching Up With God: God’s promise they’d have a child in 1 year, was connected to what God had been consistently telling them for 25 years. We often don’t catch it the 1st time, but God’s plan for your marriage now, is in line with what God has been speaking for a long time. It may be new news to us, but God has been God a long time. Trust His plan (click to tweet). Lord, give us quiet time to connect and see how you have been guiding us to what’s next for a mighty long time. 

2. Laugh First: Both Abraham & Sarah laughed at God when God promised them a son [Gen 17:17 and Gen 18:12]. At their age they didn’t believe they could have a child. God’s plans for us are so far above and beyond us that it may seem ridiculous - at first. Lord, give us clarity beyond what is laughable & hard to believe - at first.

3. Substitute: God promised Abraham an heir & he logically figured it was Eliezer (Gen 15). It made sense to Abraham, but it wasn’t God’s plan or promise - for Abraham. In his figuring it out, Abraham was unknowingly willing to settle for a lesser substitute than what God had in mind. Lord help us not to short-circuit your plan by providing our logical substitutes that aren't the size or scope of the promise you have for us.

4. It’s Complicated: Abraham & Sarah came up with their own plan. As Gen 16:2 puts it, “Abraham listened to Sarah’s voice”. But um…God had already shared His plan, and Hagar wasn’t in it. Yet, Abraham and Sarah agreed to have a child through Sarah’s servant, Hagar. That decision to fix their problem themselves, changed Abraham and Sarah’s Facebook status to “It’s Complicated”🤣. Lord give us Your wisdom not to complicate our relationship by providing our own solutions. Give us patience and wisdom to align with your plan for our marriage and family.

5. Answer the Question: Is anything too hard for the Lord? That’s the question asked to Sarah when she laughed at God and that’s the question we have to ask ourselves in the overwhelm of our own marriage reality. Logically we know the answer is NO - nothing’s too hard for God. Then God tells us to do what’s beyond us and feel the overwhelm of it all. Here’s what I love about the question: it shifts the stress from us to God. And the question is, Is anything too hard for the Lord? (tweet this) 

Take Away: I feel like I could keep going and going [this is a chapter in an upcoming book 🤐] but I pray you are getting the point: You aren’t the 1st couple to feel stress & overwhelm. God has been God for a long time. As He walked with Abraham & Sarah He will walk with your marriage too!

Read the entire encounter God has with Abraham and Sarah from Genesis 15-18. Add in Gen 20 & 21 when Isaac was born for extra fun, because our God does do what He said He would do.

But Grow in Grace Newsletter, for men is now out every Monday. If you are, or know a man that wants to grow in relationship with Christ? https://growing-in-grace.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Thanks for sharing on social media. Every week we reach more couples for Christ. Thank You!

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