Don't Help God With His Plans

Focus verses: Genesis 12:1-7

Abram was seventy-five years old when God told him to leave his homeland. In verse two of this reading He says "I will make of you a great nation." And then again in verse seven he says "To your offspring I will give this land." In these verses, God has twice said Abram would have children.

Abram and Sarai waited. It seemed like they waited forever. Years later, Abram complained to the Lord that he has only Eliezer of Damascus, his steward, as an heir. But the Lord assured Abram that his descendants will be as numerous as the sand on the seashore or the stars in the sky. God made a covenant with Abram. See Genesis Chapter 15.

Ten years passed, and Sarai could hear her biological clock ticking. She knew that she was growing too old for bearing children. She decided to take matters into her own hands and sent Abram in to Hagar to conceive a child for her. In a way, Hagar was the original surrogate mother. At least, that was what Sarai intended. But it didn't work that way.

Sarai was jealous of Hagar and mistreated her. Hagar ran away, only to be found of the Lord and told to come back into her servitude. But the Lord also assured her that her son would have many descendants. He told her to name the child "God Hears" - Ishmael. (Genesis 16)

The prophecy concerning Ishmael in verse twelve, however, forecasts an on-going feud between Ishmael's line and Isaac's line. Look at the middle east today. We have the sons of Ishmael and the sons of Isaac in constant conflict.

So let's play a game of "what if." What if Sarai had not become impatient, Hagar had not become pregnant, and Ishmael had never been born. Would the middle east be peaceful today? We'll never know.

Whenever we try to do God's will our own way, it results in a muddle. God can redeem our messes, but it is never as good as what He had planned originally. It all comes back to the arrogance of the intellect. We think we know how to help God out. We don't.

Our function is to believe His word and obey His commands. We are to do a thing only if God says so, not because we think it's the way to do it.

Father, God,

Help us to remember your wisdom is infinite and our minds are puny in comparison. Remind us that You do not need our assistance, only our faith and obedience.

In Jesus' most precious name.
Amen.