January 7 Reading: Genesis 16-18, Matthew 6:1-15, Psalm 5:6-12, Proverbs 1:16-19

It is perhaps the worst of all the bad choices that have ever been made except for Adam and Eve's fateful choice. When Abraham was 75 years old, God made a promise to him, that he would be the father of many nations. Now, he was 87 and his wife was 77 - it just didn't seem likely anymore that a childless couple would become fertile at that age.

And so, in Genesis 16:1-2, Abram and Sarah decide together that they should do something to "help out God" who had not seemed to be able to accomplish his promises. Sarah gave her servant Hagar to Abram to bear him a son. God had said that he would provide offspring to them, but they lost faith and they lost patience and they tried to accomplish in the flesh what only God can do. 

It is a decision that still haunts Abraham's chosen descendants today. Hagar's son, Ishmael, fathered many nations as well. Several of the Canaanite nations that hounded Israel were descendants of Ishmael. Today, many of the Arab and Muslim nations that threaten Israel's safety and existence are the offspring of the child of the flesh. Abram and Sarah made a bad choice, and 4000 years later, their children still pay the price. 

But let us not focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict today. That is not the point. The point is when we try to do things ourselves that should be left up to God, when we attempt in the power of the flesh what can only be accomplished by the work of the Spirit. 

I did it today. My actions did not have the devastating or life-changing consequences that Abram's did, but it was sinful nonetheless. I pushed a situation instead of letting God work. 

We are not called to be passive; to sit around and do nothing. But we must wait on the Lord. We must not try to push people to make a decision for Christ until the Spirit works his work of grace in them. We must not attempt to be the Holy Spirit for others either. We proclaim the gospel. We proclaim truth. But we must leave the work of God to God. 

The sad thing is that God had a perfect plan that he was working, in his time. It involved a miracle and it produced joy. If Abram and Sarah had waited on God in faith, things would have been so much better. 

Years ago, our family needed a new vehicle, so I went out searching for a new (to us) van. I saw one down the road with a "for sale" sign on it and I wanted it. I didn't really pray about it nor did I wait for God to lead or to provide. I just went out and made a deal on the van. It was pretty much a piece of junk. I drove it for a while and then got rid of it because it was no good. 

But, while I still had the van, God drove home the point of this devotional to me. I ran into a friend of mine and he told me that he had been planning to give me his old van when he purchased a new car. But when he heard I'd bought a van, he just sold it to someone else. The worst thing was that he sold it to a good friend of mine. Every time my friend came to church or to my house, I was reminded of the fact that God had a gift for me, but in my impatience and self-will, I messed it up. 

We must learn to seek God, to lay our needs and our challenges before him, and to wait on him as he reveals his answers in his time.

Lord, help me to trust you. Your promises are always true and perfect, but in your time, not mine. Teach me patience and trust - waiting on you instead of always taking matters into my own hands.