God Did It: Trusting the Promise Through the Wait

Oct 04, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: The Seed in the Dark Earth

When hope feels buried, God is still working beneath the surface. Like a farmer staring at barren soil, we often question if our prayers or efforts matter during seasons of waiting. But roots grow where eyes cannot see. The same God who designed seeds to split open in darkness is orchestrating breakthroughs in your unseen places. What looks like delay is divine cultivation. Trust the process. [17:39]

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
(Galatians 6:9, KJV)

Reflection: What “barren field” in your life makes you question if God is working? How might this season be preparing roots for a harvest you can’t yet see?

Day 2: Sarah’s Laugh of Surrendered Hope

Laughter sometimes masks the ache of deferred dreams. Sarah’s cynical chuckle revealed her resignation—a heart that had stopped daring to believe. Yet God didn’t rebuke her honesty; He answered with a promise. Your weary sighs don’t disqualify you. The One who counts stars also counts your tears, turning bitter laughter into astonished joy. [24:25]

Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
(Genesis 18:15, KJV)

Reflection: Where have you stopped praying about a desire because hoping feels too risky? How might God be inviting you to voice that ache to Him again?

Day 3: God’s Calendar Over Our Clocks

Human impatience clashes with divine timing. We microwave; God marinates. The “appointed time” for Isaac’s birth wasn’t about Sarah’s age but God’s sovereignty. Your breakthrough isn’t late—it’s dated. Every delay is a divine entry in a ledger you’ll one day read with awe. [27:07]

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.
(Galatians 4:4, KJV)

Reflection: What promise feels overdue in your life? How might viewing it through God’s calendar rather than your clock change your perspective?

Day 4: The Blood That Still Speaks

Two thousand years later, the blood of Jesus still redeems, heals, and breaks chains. Like a spiritual defibrillator, it jumpstarts dead situations. The enemy may argue your failures, but the blood drowns out his accusations. Its power isn’t diminished by time—it’s amplified by eternity. [12:23]

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
(Hebrews 9:14, KJV)

Reflection: What area of your life needs the blood’s redeeming power today—a relationship, a regret, or a recurring struggle?

Day 5: Old Bodies, New Miracles

Abraham’s “as good as dead” body and Sarah’s barrenness became testimonies. God specializes in resurrections—not just of corpses but careers, marriages, and dreams. Your human limitations are the stage for His supernatural power. When the story seems over, He’s just getting started. [35:15]

And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.
(Romans 4:19-20, KJV)

Reflection: What “dead” area in your life needs God’s resurrection power? How can Abraham’s refusal to consider limitations inspire your faith today?

Sermon Summary

The blood of Jesus still works. The blood “makes the difference,” picks people up, turns them around, and puts their feet on solid ground. God’s work in the house is not finished either. The promise fulfilled after four years points toward another level of ministry, a season where supernatural power brings forth things nobody thought could happen.

The long wait tests more than patience. The long wait tests hope, because people want blessings quick, fast, and in a hurry while God does not move by anybody’s microwave clock. The farmer’s field gives the picture: good seed goes into the ground, weeks pass, and bare dirt makes neighbors and even the farmer wonder whether anything lived. The seed, though, has already broken open underneath the surface. Roots are reaching down, life is moving where no eye can see, and the harvest comes right on time.

God’s promise to Abraham began with a great nation and descendants like the stars. God, standing on “the corner of nowhere,” spoke everything everywhere and threw the stars into the sky like diamond stick pins. Sarah’s barrenness and Abraham’s old age made that beautiful promise look impossible as year after year rolled by. The twenty-five-year wait made the promise harder to believe, because Sarah’s body kept telling her what her heart did not want to admit.

Sarah’s laugh in Genesis 18 was not a laugh of joy. Sarah’s laugh came from disappointment that had hurt too much to keep hoping about. The same laugh can rise in a kitchen, in a car, or in the dark of night when somebody asks, “How long, God?” Yet God did not cancel the promise because Sarah wavered. God asked, “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?”

God’s appointed time means He is neither late nor forgetful. God has a calendar, and the miracle is already written on it. The breakthrough, the financial blessing, and the salvation prayed for over many years remain under God’s authority and timing. God is the uncaused Cause, and whatever He lets out of His mouth will come to pass.

Genesis 21 gives the plain and strong answer: “The Lord visited Sarah as he had said,” and He did unto Sarah “as he had spoken.” God did not fulfill His word because Sarah’s faith never faded or because Abraham had strength left in himself. God fulfilled His word because He spoke it. The promise came at the set time, down to the last detail, and Isaac stood as proof that God can bring life where human strength has run out.

Key Takeaways

1. The blood still makes the difference. The blood of Jesus is not a dried-up memory from two thousand years ago. The blood still reaches into broken places and establishes people on solid ground. Faith in the blood calls for more than quiet agreement; it calls for praise that recognizes what Christ has done. [12:23]
2. Hidden roots grow during the wait. The bare field can look like failure when nothing has appeared above ground. God’s work often begins where nobody can watch it, breaking open the seed and sending roots down deep. The wait does not mean nothing is happening; it can mean everything necessary is happening underneath. [18:22]
3. Disappointed laughter does not cancel promise. Sarah’s laugh came from pain, not rebellion alone. God did not throw her away when hope had grown weak after years of waiting. God met her doubt with a question bigger than her circumstances: “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?” [25:48]
4. God has an appointed calendar day. God’s timing is not forgetfulness, delay, or neglect. The promise has a set time, even when the calendar remains hidden from human eyes. Faith rests not in forcing the date, but in knowing that God’s word cannot fall to the ground. [27:25]
5. God fulfills what He has spoken. Genesis 21 makes the ground of fulfillment plain: God visited Sarah as He said and did as He had spoken. Sarah did not earn the miracle through flawless faith, and Abraham did not produce it through natural strength. God’s word created what human weakness could never manufacture.

## [34:15]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[11:11] - The Blood Still Works
[13:04] - A New Level of Ministry
[15:36] - God Did It: Promise Fulfilled
[16:20] - Promise Spoken and the Long Wait
[17:08] - The Farmer’s Hidden Harvest
[19:23] - Abraham’s Promise Under the Stars
[21:12] - Sarah’s Long Years of Waiting
[22:29] - Sarah’s Laugh of Disappointment
[25:04] - Is Anything Too Hard for God?
[26:40] - The Appointed Time
[28:30] - God’s Calendar Day
[31:22] - God’s Word Can Be Trusted
[32:04] - The Lord Visited Sarah
[34:15] - God Keeps Every Detail

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Genesis 21:1-2
“And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.” [32:04]

Genesis 18:14
“Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” [25:48]

Genesis 15:5
“And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.” [19:52]

Observation questions

In Genesis 15:5, what picture did God give Abraham to describe the descendants He promised him? [19:52]
What details made God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah seem impossible from a human point of view?
What does Genesis 18:14 reveal about God’s response to Sarah’s laughter and doubt? [25:34]
In Genesis 21:1–2, what repeated phrases show that Sarah’s son came because God kept His word and acted at His set time? [32:04]

Interpretation questions

The farmer sees only bare ground while roots are growing underneath. What does that picture help explain about seasons when a person has prayed but cannot yet see any change? [18:14]
Sarah’s laugh came after years of disappointment. How does God’s question, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” speak to someone whose hope has become weak? [25:37]
Genesis 21 emphasizes that the Lord did for Sarah “as he had said” and “as he had spoken.” Why is it important that the promise was fulfilled by God’s word rather than by Sarah’s perfect faith or Abraham’s natural strength? [34:33]
What does the “appointed time” teach about the difference between trusting God and trying to force an outcome on a personal timetable? [27:01]

Application questions

Is there an area of life where the waiting has tested more than patience—it has tested hope? What has that waiting felt like, and what would it look like to bring that honest disappointment to God? [21:42]
Where might God be growing hidden roots in life right now—character, prayer, endurance, wisdom, or deeper dependence on Him—even though the surface still looks unchanged? [18:22]
Sarah laughed because hoping had become painful. Have there been prayers that have become difficult to pray again? What could help a person stay before God long enough to listen, not only ask? [24:07]
What is one promise from God’s Word that needs to be remembered in this season? How can that promise shape the way a person responds this week instead of being ruled by what is currently visible?
The blood of Jesus still makes the difference, picking people up and placing their feet on solid ground. Where is there a need for Christ’s restoring work—in a broken habit, a relationship, guilt from the past, or a discouraged heart? [12:23]
God fulfilled His promise at the set time, even when human strength had run out. What situation feels beyond personal ability right now, and how can the group pray for faith to trust God with what cannot be manufactured? [34:42]

Sermon Clips

42s

#GodsPerfectTiming

“was not late. God was not forgetful. I wish I had a witness up in here. God had a calendar a calendar, and Sarah and Sarah's miracle was already written on the calendar. Oh my god. When I was when I was thinking about that thing, I said, oh my god. You got a calendar date? Oh my god. I said, my breakthrough on that calendar. Somebody got a calendar date in there. You ought to tell god thank you in advance.”

36s

#GodsTiming

“Promise spoken and the long wait. Promise spoken and the long wait. You know, because sometimes sometimes, people of God, we get impatient. We we want an instant blessing. I I I wish I had somebody. You... But we are not living in a microwave time, but because our time is not God's time. We want things quick, fast, in a hurry. Amen. That's why that's why that's why we have to take our time”

48s

#PromiseFulfilled

“Thank god for each of you. Man, I tell you what, there's a word for the house today. There's a word for the house today. There's a word for the house today. And and and if I would use a topic, it would be, did it. Promise fulfilled. Isn't that the theme? Yes, sir. God did it. Look at the neighbor and say, god did it. God did it. Mhmm. And and guess what? He's not through yet. Amen. Amen somebody. Amen. You may be seated because I'm I'm a try to take my time. I'm a try to take my time. Y'all pray with me? Yes, sir. Amen. Y'all pray with me? God did it. The promise fulfilled.”

32s

#FaithThroughTheProcess

“You know nothing too hard for god, but but there's a process of things. And sometime the process get a little hard. Sometimes the process will call you to waiver a little bit. Oh my god. I ain't saying backslide, but waiver a little bit. You you have a a little bit of doubt in your mind, god. Is it really you? Did you really tell me this? Oh my god. I can tell you right now. God said it, and god will do it.”

30s

#DivineAppointment

“God has a calendar day. Somebody say a calendar day. Day. I like that. I like that. A calendar day. God god... If God if God says something, you can count on it. Yeah. Yeah. Why why why, preacher, why? If God said it, I can count on it. Because God is the uncalled cause. Nobody calls him, but he calls everything.”

59s

#TrustTheWaiting

“And and the years kept rolling by. One year, five years, ten years, twenty five years. The bible tells us from the first word to the fulfillment. Oh my god. Isn't that something? Isn't that something? And let's be honest about what what that kind of waiting does to a person's mind. It it does it does not just test your patience. It tests your hope. Every year that passed, the promise got harder to believe. Sarah was not a young girl. I wish I had somebody. When god spoke these words, and and with each passing season, her body told her her hard what what what... Her hard was was not willing to admit. Come on. Come on. Now isn't that something you gotta understand some? Sarah was no young girl.”

28s

#GreatnessOfGod

“And when I think about the stars, I think about God standing on the corner of nowhere. Yes, sir. On. He's standing on the corner of nowhere. I wish I had somebody. And he spoke everything everywhere. And he took the the little stars, like, and threw them in the sky like diamond stick pins. I wish I had somebody. What a great god we serve.”

36s

#SupernaturalPower

“This is the season of supernatural power. I wish I had somebody. You're gonna find yourself doing things that you never thought you could do. You're gonna receive some stuff that you didn't think was coming. And somebody said something in the mailbox. then somebody say something in my hand. Something down on the inside will begin to turn, begin to burn. I wish I had somebody. Yes.”

Ask a question about this sermon

Pastor Everett Johnson This sermon · AI assistant

What does Sarah’s laughter reveal about prolonged disappointment?

How can believers trust God’s timing during delays?

Why can God’s promises succeed despite human weakness?