God's Will My Way – No Way
(S) Scripture
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar;
so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me."
"Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
Genesis 16:1-6 (NIV)
(O) Observation
God had already promised Abram that his offspring would be numbered like the stars of the sky. He was old and his wife could not have children. How would God's promise and will be fulfilled? Sarai devised a plan to accomplish God's will. It was her plan not God's. She told Abram to sleep with Hagar and she could raise a family that way. Sounds noble but it was fraught with danger. Jealousy came in and Hagar got resentful and Sarai got mean. What was begun to accomplish God's Will ends in disaster. God does make a way to keep his promise with Abram but not without some pain.
(A) Application
When I get ahead of God things tend to fall apart of at least go off course. Even if I know what God wants to accomplish I need to wait for Him to move. This does not mean that I do nothing – that I don't prepare or look for opportunities – It simply means that I need to do God's will in God's way and in God's time. It is in the timing that I mess up the most. I have trouble waiting on the Lord and so get ahead of him way too often. It is hard to follow when you are ahead of the leader. In the passage today Sarai got jealous, impatient and mean with Hagar and Abram. I do not want to get that way in my relationships with the people around me, especially the ones closest to me. Today I will listen to hear what God says and then wait on Him to lead. I will prepare so I can be ready to move ahead when He says it's time. Like so many other things in my walk with the Lord, this is easy to say and tough to do.
(P) Prayer
Lord, you know how easy it is for me to get ahead of You. I want to follow you. When I start to move ahead, draw me back so I can walk with you and do your will in your time and way. Amen
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