The Waiting Room // Genesis 16

The waiting room can be the hardest place to be. It is often filled with questions and doubts—not only about what will happen next, but whether God is even paying attention. In the waiting rooms of my life, I’ve been tempted to believe that God is angry with me, that this season is obviously a punishment for something. I find myself searching my heart and my past, looking for something I could or should confess to hurry myself out of this mess.

To make everything even worse, when we obsess and perseverate over the passing of time, everything seems to go so much slower. When it becomes all you can think about, then impatience melds with sadness, depression, and often a heavy dose of self-absorption.

So what is the answer? If we can’t rush the timeline, what can we do while time creeps along so slowly? How can we keep trusting when it feels as if nothing is changing? Steve Winstead leads us through Genesis 16, showing us that the only way to abundant life is to trust... even in the waiting.

Questions:

1. What have you been waiting for God to do?

2. What do you need to be honest with God about?

3. When has God been faithful in your past?

4. When was the first time someone said Hagar's name in Genesis 16?

5. Genesis 16: 7 says, " The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness...". God was looking for Hagar when Hagar wasn't looking for God. When has God found you in your life when you weren't looking for Him?