Time flies when you are having fun. Time does not fly when you are waiting on God’s promise. When you are waiting on God weeks can seem like years. Waiting on God can be one of the most challenging times. The temptation to step in and take control of the circumstances is great. It also causes terrible damage.
When you are waiting for sand to pass through an hourglass all you can do is wait. If you shake the hourglass, you have not sped things us, you actually slowed down the time it takes for the sand to pass.
Whenever we attempt to achieve what only God can do chaos results. Do not try to manipulate a miracle. Abraham found that out.
Abraham had been living in Canaan the past ten years. God promised him offspring even though his wife was past childbearing age. But to wait on God ten years, it must have seemed like centuries.
His wife Sarah developed a plan that sounded reasonable. If they followed this manmade plan they would not have to continue the difficult time waiting on God. They could apply human logic, follow their plan and presto, God could keep his promise that was not happening.
So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. (Genesis 16:3)
It would be hard for us to really understand how difficult it was for Abram and Sarai to wait on God when the weeks seemed like years. The 10 years they waited were unbearable for them. The solution they came up with would have been acceptable in their culture and time. Not God’s plan, but acceptable to the system around them. If the wife did not produce an offspring, she provided her servant. Then the child born to the servant would be considered her child.
From all indication Sarah’s biological clock had run out. She was too old to produce an offspring. Their strategy, Sarai and Abram’s, was like shaking the hourglass to intervene in God’s plan. They took matters into their own hands and produced havoc.
One of the fallout problems of their manipulation of the situation was a hatred grew between Sarai and Hagar and the son Ishmael that Hagar conceived. Ishmael will be a man of hostility. Abraham never sought God about his will in this strategy.
Our man-made plans will go astray. We need to seek God in all that we do. We do not want to fall into the trap of following human wisdom.
There is good human wisdom out there. If you follow the conventional wisdom without seeking the Lord you are making a mistake and could be bringing havoc to your situation. We may be doing important kingdom work, but never can we justify operating on human wisdom. That is a way that does not honor God.
We must seek the mind of God. We are to seek and follow the will of God. Trust God for his working miracles in our situation.
Yes, Abraham faced some tough assignments when he received his call recorded in Genesis 12:1-3. He left his family and land. Then because of a famine he went to Egypt (Genesis 12:10). His descendants were to be as numerous as the stars of the sky, but after 10 years, nothing. No progress at all on this. That is tough but solving the problems by the plans of man is not the answer. Seek God and trusting God is the answer.
I once saw a Bible cover that said, Plan B. In other words, we probably tied solving our problems with our own manmade plans. We undoubtedly failed with manmade plans. So now we must back up use Gods Word, seek the will of God, submit our plans to the Lord, pray and do everything God’s way.
The action of Abraham and Sarah show a lack of trust in God. It does not matter that it was an acceptable plan in their culture, if it was not God’s plan it was not the way forward. God’s desire was to produce a miracle and he would do that. When we look to God and trust him then we are on the right path.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
The problem with Abraham and Sarah, and often our problem too, is we fail to trust the Lord and we lean on our own understanding. We don’t listen closely enough for God’s voice and we listen to man’s voice. We trade God’s plan for a human developed plan. Doing things man’s way shows a lack of confidence in God to provide. We are called to stand of the promises of God, but when delay comes we are tempted to doubt.
Pregnant Hagar flees from the abuse Sarah was inflicting on her in her jealousy. She was fleeing back to her homeland Egypt. Hagar had an encounter with God. The term “Angel of the Lord” is used but it is considered nor than an encounter with the angel Gabriel it is considered a manifestation of God.
God knows the plight of the underprivileged. This was a mistreated servant girl that the Lord was an unlikely person in an unlikely place to have this encounter with the Lord. The lord shows that he hears, he sees, and he lives.
Hagar’s assignment is to go back to Abraham and Sarah. The child is to be named Ishmael, which means God hears. She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her:
“You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. (Genesis 16:13-14)
The Lord hears- Ishmael (Genesis 16:11)
The Lord Sees - El Roi (Genesis 16:13)
The well where the Lord met Hagar, – Beer Lahai Roi (Genesis 16:14)
God shows his grace, yet there are repercussions of disobedience. The son Ishmael will be a person of hostility and contention. The Arabs consider themselves descendants of Ismael and Hagar. The Jews of Sarah and Isaac. Both peoples claim Abraham as their father.
Galatians 4:21-31
Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise. 24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written: “Be glad, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.”[a]
28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”[b] 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. (Galatians 4:21-31)
Paul uses this Genesis 16 passage to contrast legalism and grace to the Galatians. Legalism is man’s attempt to achieve what only God can do. The Old covenant is a works based system. Hagar son is a Ishmael are physical offspring. Ishmael is born of a slave. Born of the flesh.
The New Covenant is grace. It is Sarah and Isaac a spiritual offspring. Sarah is the free woman and Isaac the child of promise. Isaac was born as a miracle. Isaac represents liberty in Christ.
Every religion is man’s efforts outside God’s plan. The Messiah who came to save the lost separated from God is the promise. It is futile for man to attempt what only God can do. This whole principle applies to our salvation. It is not by works. A manmade plan will not help. It is the cross of Christ. It is Jesus dying the just for the unjust to bring us to God.
We must always be trusting God. We must be waiting on God to fulfill His promises. We are to walk by faith not by sight. Trust the promises of God in every area of your life.
