Day 18

“For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.”  — GALATIANS 4:22 -23

One of the biggest mistakes we can make in seeking to do the will of God is to do it without Him.  Having been promised a son in their old age, Abram, at 75 years old, is described as being ‘as good as dead’, and Sarai, at 65, as ‘worn out’. Ten years later, still waiting and desperate for their promised heir, Abram and Sarai conspire to take matters into their own hands. They agreed Abram should sleep with their maidservant, Hagar. “So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne” (Genesis 16:15).

Abram and Sarai experienced a “crisis of faith” where they effectively felt God could not be trusted to do what He had promised, and so resorted to their own ability and planning to carry out His will. Their obedience to God’s will was separated from their dependence on His enabling. Acting out of their own volition, a ‘conflict of the flesh’ arose where the natural self took precedence over the Spirit. When we separate obedience to God from dependence on God, we exclude Him from the process, and are left to our own devices, which may be sincerely devised, but which do not result in God working, but only in our own human work.

Abram was 99 years old when God confirmed His covenant with Him, and said he would have the promised son in one year.  One year later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. In Galatians 4:29, Paul writes about this, “At that time, the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now.” 

Ishmael’s birth is explained in terms of the flesh – what Abram did for God, but Isaac’s birth is explained in terms of the Spirit – what God did for Abram. As is usually the case, what does not have its source in God, attacks that which does have its source in God. The flesh always fights against the Spirit. The two brothers were never at peace, and to this day their descendants continue in an ongoing struggle as spiritually, within our hearts, the desires of the flesh continually battles against the desires of the Spirit.

PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, Grant me patience to wait upon You in everything You call me to do. Keep me from taking matters into my own hands just to speed up the process. You are the Master Planner, and I want to make myself available only to your agenda and your purposes.

TO REFLECT UPON: Have I ever manipulated things in order to hasten God’s work? If so, was I under pressure, worried and doubtful? What difference would it make now letting God be God in my life?