Genesis 16

God promised Abraham a son. The natural conclusion should have been- Abraham is married to Sarah, therefore Abraham and Sarah are going to have a baby. However, they took God's promise and decided to make it happen in their time and in their own way. This created problems. It always creates problems.

Abraham had a child who was promised name Isaac. He would receive all the blessing and inheritance of his father. Due to their decision to make God's plan happen- Abraham also has an older son named Ishmael (who is not the child of promise). The Muslims trace their ancestry back to Ishmael and say all the promises and the land belong to them because Ishmael was the firstborn. The Jewish people trace their line and say they are the heirs of the promises because Isaac was the promised child (and rightly so). There is chaos and conflict in the Middle East that trace the roots back to these two half-brothers. It is great to receive God's promise, but we must also wait on God's timing. When we jump in to try to make God's promises happen by our own wisdom we create messes.