January 20, 2016

Wait On God

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; 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 slave 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 slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”

“Your slave 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

God promised Abraham that he would have heirs more numerous than the stars in the sky. Abraham waited. And waited. And waited. Then his wife decided to take matters into her owns hands. And, well, it didn’t turn out well.

Waiting for God isn’t always easy, is it? Is it worth it? Yes. Because when we rush ahead of God and try to “help” Him, we create nothing but chaos and heartache. Sarah sure upset her own life and destroyed Hagar’s life too.

Sarah (as we later knew Sarai) didn’t even take responsibility for what she’d done. Not that Abraham was innocent. He should have known better. This is a man who loved God and, years later, would offer up his son as a sacrifice because God told him to. He had to have known that God would keep His promise and provide Abraham with a son. But he went ahead, had sex outside of marriage and then washed his hands of it when his wife got mad.

But getting back to Sarah: Have you ever known someone who made a decision that resulted in bad things and then the person refused to own the original decision? It’s pretty frustrating and probably more common than we all realize. No one really wants to admit to a mistake. A disastrous mistake sends us running in the opposite direction.

So much heartache could be avoided if we just did a few basic things. First ask God what He thinks. Slow down. Wait on His timing. Second, admit it when you make a mistake. Trying to hide your bad decision -- even if your intentions were for good -- only heaps heartache on top of heartbreak.

Trust God. Trust His timing. Trust His promises. And wait.