When you give a promise to someone, you are saying that you will or will not do what you said.

A promise can be a gift, protection and inheritance and received as an expectation. When you keep your promise, you gain the trust of others involved. There are some promises that come with conditions attached to them.

In this story, the condition is to trust the Lord and wait because he always keeps his promises and he never lies. There are some promises that cause you to wait for a long time until you receive it.

Waiting for the promise reveals our true character and identity. If it does not come when we want it, as the younger culture would say, "we get in our feelings." When we get in our feelings and don’t get our way, we will mess things up.

In Genesis 21, there is a story of Abraham and his wife Sarah waiting for a promise that they would have a child at a time of their life that seemed impossible. For those that are not familiar with this story, Sarah was in her 90s and Abraham was older than Sarah. Sarah had no other children and this promise came to her husband from the Lord.

Have you been waiting on something for a long time and it feels like it will not come through? Keep waiting on the promise. Do not try to handle it on your own because it will cause you to bring other unwanted issues in your life.

Doing it your way and God’s way is totally different. Your way is of your emotions, which is flesh, and God’s way is the promise that relies on trusting in him. This is the example of Sarah and Hagar. Sarah could not wait, so she asked her husband to allow Hagar, their maidservant, to be a surrogate mother. Hagar had the child and now Sarah is jealous.

Sarah represents the freewoman and Hagar represents the bondwoman. We bring bondage in our life when we do not wait. This is explained in Galatians 4:22-31. It is time for us to release and let go of the things of the flesh that Hagar brings and enjoy the promise.

Eventually, Abraham had to tell Hagar to leave with his son Ishmael. This can be a hard task for any parent and, let’s be honest, a lover, also. Abraham loved Hagar and Ishmael, but they were not the promise. This was an issue they brought on themselves for not waiting and trusting what was spoken to them. The Lord told them they would have a son and his name would be Isaac, but they could not wait.

Like many of us, we really don’t want to wait and develop ourselves in the process. We want the promotion now, the child now, the new relationship now.

The promise is already prepared and given unto you. The Lord is waiting to deliver it to you when he knows you genuinely trust him and not others.

Frazier is pastor of Rivers of Living Water Oureach Ministries.