God does not prepare His people in one day. God prepares His people over time. He uses waiting, hardship, prayer, obedience, loss, and testing. Sometimes the preparation feels gentle. Sometimes it feels painful. But through every season, God is working.
In Genesis 21-25, the lives of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Esau show us that God is faithful to His promises. God also shows us that the waiting season is never wasted. While we wait, God forms our faith. While we walk through trials, God teaches us to trust Him. While we obey, God reveals His purpose.
God prepares His people by teaching them to trust His promises.
‘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.” (Genesis 21:1–2)
Sarah and Abraham waited many years for the promised son. Their age made the promise seem impossible. Yet God did exactly what He said He would do. Isaac was born “at the set time.” God was not early. God was not late. God was on time.
God prepares His people in the wilderness.
Genesis 21 then turns to Hagar and Ishmael. Sarah saw Ishmael mocking Isaac, and Abraham faced a painful decision. Ishmael was also Abraham’s son. Sending Hagar and Ishmael away was not easy. Yet God assured Abraham that He had a plan for Ishmael too.
Hagar and Ishmael entered the wilderness of Beersheba with only limited supplies. Soon the water was gone. Hagar placed her son under a shrub and wept. It was a moment of deep despair.
Many women know what it feels like to stand in a place where there seems to be no answer. Sometimes the wilderness is not sand and heat. Sometimes the wilderness is fear in the home, grief in the heart, stress in the body, or uncertainty about the future.
But Hagar’s story shows that God sees the overlooked. God does not forget the broken. God does not overlook the desperate. God does not abandon those who cry unto Him. If God saw Hagar, God sees us also.
God prepares His people through testing and substitution.
Genesis 22 relates one of the clearest tests in Abraham’s life. God told Abraham to offer Isaac, the promised son, as a burnt offering. “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest” (Genesis 22:2).
This command was not easy to understand. Abraham had waited so long for Isaac. Ishmael was already gone from the household. Now the very son of promise was being placed on the altar.
Yet Abraham obeyed. Genesis 22:8 gives us Abraham’s faith-filled response: “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”
And God did provide. When Abraham was about to offer Isaac, the angel of the Lord stopped him, and a ram was provided in Isaac’s place.
God prepares His people through prayer and guidance
Genesis 24 shows another part of God’s preparation. Abraham wanted a wife for Isaac, and his servant was sent on a long journey. The servant did not move carelessly. He prayed. He asked God for guidance and for a clear sign. He asked that the woman appointed for Isaac would offer water not only for him, but also for his camels.
Then Genesis 24:15 says, “And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out.”
Before the servant finished speaking, God was already answering. This does not mean every prayer is answered immediately in the same way. But it does mean that God hears. God is attentive. God is already at work before we see the answer.
God prepares His people through long waiting.
Genesis 25 shows that Isaac and Rebekah also had to wait. Rebekah was barren for many years. It took twenty years before Esau and Jacob were born.
When Rebekah felt struggle in her womb, she did the right thing. Genesis 25:22 says, “And she went to enquire of the Lord.”
That is a lesson for every believer. In confusion, enquire of the Lord. In pain, enquire of the Lord. In seasons that do not make sense, enquire of the Lord.
Many believers want quick answers, but God often works deeply in long seasons. Waiting teaches dependence. Waiting exposes motives. Waiting drives us to prayer. Waiting prepares us for what we will one day carry.
God prepares His people by teaching them to value spiritual things.
Genesis 25 closes with Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of stew. Verse 34 says, “Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
The birthright mattered. It included identity, inheritance, and responsibility. It was tied to covenant and future blessing. But Esau chose the immediate over the eternal. He chose present appetite over lasting value.
Hebrews 12:16–17 warns believers not to be “as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” That warning still matters. The world offers many temporary satisfactions. But God’s people must value what is spiritual, eternal, and holy. We must not trade prayer for comfort. We must not trade conviction for convenience. We must not trade inheritance for appetite.
God is preparing His people through promise, wilderness, testings, prayers, waiting, and choices. Sometimes preparation feels joyful. Sometimes preparation feels painful. But if we submit to the hand of God, preparation will never be wasted.
Let us not resist the process of preparation. Let us trust the God who prepares His people for promise, purpose, and eternity.
Today’s devotion is by Wylleen May Dimatulac
We encourage you to download the corresponding Bible study on this topic for further scripture references and insights.
