THE WORD TEST

WORD = Something said; an utterance, remark, or comment. A command or direction.  An assurance or promise. A short speech on a particular subject.

In our lifetime, many of us have received a prophetic word. The Bible tells us that we can judge the validity of the word we received by its’ fruition (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). For numerous people (me included) numerous years have passed, and I have yet to see some of my prophetic words come to pass, and like Abram and Sarai whom I am going to discuss in today’s blog, I may have to wait a long time. During my waiting period, it is crucial that I have a patient attitude; for without it, I allow doubt, fear, and human reasoning to control my thoughts which may derail, or delay my word.

Let me share the history of Abram and Sarai and how they handled the word test.

Genesis 11 introduces us to Abram the son of Terah, and his beautiful barren wife Sarai.

Genesis 12 shares the directional conversation that God has with Abram and Abram’s response to God’s instruction. It reads as follows, “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him.” (Genesis 12:1-4a). At the time of this event, Abram was 75 years old, and Sarai was 65.

In Genesis 13, the Lord once again talks to Abram about the land He will give to him and his descendants.

Genesis 15 occurs after the passing of many years without the birth of an heir for Abram. Abram has a vision in which he questions God concerning his servant Eliezer of Damascus being his heir and God responds to him with these words, “This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. So shall thy seed be.” The bible says this about Abram in verse 6, “And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” In other words, Abram’s trust and dependence on God put him in right standing with God.

In all of these chapters in Genesis, God never communed with Sarai; neither did he tell Abram that Sarai would bare him a child. So, in chapter 16 when Sarai suggest to Abram that her handmaiden become a surrogate mom for them, which was a common practice during that time for barren couples, Abram complies with his wife suggestion and has sex with Hagar who conceives and bare Abram a son they named Ishmael. This event takes place ten years after Genesis 12.

Abram was ninety-nine years old when God appeared to him in Genesis 17. God changes his name from Abram to Abraham and Sarai’s name changes to Sarah. God reaffirms his covenant with Abraham and tells him this concerning Sarah, “And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him.” After receiving this amazing word concerning Sarah, you would think that Abraham would be excited to share it with her, but apparently, he did not as we witness in the next chapter.

In Genesis 18, God again appears to Abraham but this time He comes to Abraham’s tent. He speaks to Abraham about Sarah having a baby the following year, and Sarah being close by hears this conversation and laughs. When God hears her laughing, He questions Abraham about Sarah laughing. Sarah is hearing the question God ask Abraham and being fearful responded with this, “I laughed not” and God said to her “Nay; but thou didst laugh.” The scriptures reveal Sarah was surprised with the announcement of her future pregnancy and the only time in the scripture we hear of God talking to her He calls her a liar.

In Genesis 20, Abraham places Sarah in a dangerous position when he moves his family to Gerar, but God intervened and rescued her from being sexually assaulted.

Finally, the word Abraham received twenty-five years ago in Chapter 12 comes to fruition in Genesis 21. The chapter begins with this statement, “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. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.” God’s word which is faithful and never fails, falters, or is false came to pass even though it was a long wait, some wrong decisions were made, and Abraham’s and Sarah’s humanity, frailties and impatience were exposed. Therefore, to pass the word test, having trust and patience is vital in experiencing the word of God coming to pass without complications.

In my next blog, “THE PATIENCE TEST,” which will be a continuation of this one, I will share more details on how patience and word must work together for success.