Many times in our lives we are just too impatient. We want things done now and in our own time. We can’t bear to wait for anything anymore, especially if it is something revealed to us in our conversation with God. We feel like we have to help Him out instead of allowing Him to take care of it Himself, and often, when we take matters into our own hands, it does nothing but lead to destruction.
An example of this is found in the Book of Genesis when God told a man named Abram that he and his wife, Sarai, would have a son. Because they were so old in age and because Sarai had never been able to have children, neither one of them believed that this would be possible. One day Sarai came up with the idea that Abram should sleep with her handmaiden, Hagar, so that he could have this child promised by God. Of course, Abram does sleep with Hagar, and she conceives and eventually gives birth to a baby boy, Ishmael.
Now, at this point, Abram is probably thinking that God’s Word has come to fruition; he has a son just like God said he would. However, our field of vision is so limited. Abram may have a son, but this promise didn’t come about the way that God intended it to. If God doesn’t have a say in it, it is wrong and not a part of His will for your life. If God does make you a promise, you can believe that it will come to pass because He is faithful and His words cannot return void. But Abram was impatient. We’re all so impatient. Abram just wanted an heir, but for God there was so much more to it than that.
Eventually, some tension comes up between Sarai and Hagar. Long story short, Ishmael and Hagar are sent away. When God blesses you with something, it shouldn’t come with so much headache. Otherwise, you may need to think twice about what exactly you have been “given.” It wasn’t until some years later that God spoke to Abram again. This time, He changed Abram’s name from Abram to Abraham and changed Sarai’s name from Sarai to Sarah. God told Abraham that Sarah would give birth to a son. She did, and he was named Isaac.
God has His own way of doing things. It was through Isaac that God established a covenant. It was because of this covenant that God would have to sacrifice His Son, Jesus Christ. It was because of Jesus’s death and the shedding of His Blood that we can be saved. God was looking so far ahead, beyond what could be seen in the present when he made that promise to Abraham, and He does the same thing for you. God knows why he put you here. God knows why he needs you to stay here instead of go after something that looks like a sure thing. There’s a reason that you have to wait and be patient and why you can’t have it all at one time or why you can’t do it all at one time. He sees the landscape. Have you ever played mini golf and at some holes you can’t hit the ball in the direction toward the hole? You have to hit it in another direction so that it will bounce against a wall or roll over a hill to get to the hole. It’s the same way here: God may have to take you one way to get you where you need to be. So wait on God and be patient. He knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t need your help. He’s got it all under control. Wait for him to move…and don’t sleep with Hagar.
