Taking Matters into Your Own Hands (Day 16)

Ephesians 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith…(NIV)

            After the fall of man, God promised Eve that He would send a Savior to redeem mankind. As part of that plan, God wanted a special people, who would be obedient to His will, and through whose line the Savior would come. God chose a man named Abram as the beginning of the fulfillment of that promise. Abram, whose name was later changed to Abraham, and his wife, Sarai, who later became Sarah, had no children of their own. Nevertheless, despite their old age, God promised that Abraham would be a father of many nations. Genesis 15:3-5 ⁽³⁾And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” ⁽⁴⁾Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” ⁽⁵⁾He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (NIV)

            God promised Abraham that He would give him children and his descendants would be as plentiful as the stars in the sky. This promise did not take place for quite some time and Sarah grew impatient. Therefore, she decided to take matters into her own hands and offer Abraham her Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar, to sleep with in order to produce an heir. Abraham did as his wife suggested and Hagar became pregnant, but that’s when trouble truly began.

            Even though Ishmael, Hagar’s son, received blessings from God by becoming a great nation, due to the promise God gave Abraham, he was still not the promise that God had intended.  God’s promise was that Abraham and Sarah would have a child of their own who would be the line through which the promised Savior would eventually come. God kept His promise and Abraham was blessed with a son through his wife Sarah named Isaac.   Unfortunately, we are still seeing the consequences of Sarah going ahead of God through the fighting between present day Israel and the Arab nations as many researchers believe are the descendants of Ishmael.

            The Apostle Paul lets us know that we must carry the Shield of Faith. Whenever God has made a promise in our lives, we must be confident in knowing that He will bring it to past. Whenever we try to go ahead of Him by taking matters into our own hands, we will in no doubt either delay or disrupt God’s perfect will for our lives.  2 Corinthians 5:7 We live by faith, not by sight. (NIV) We may not always see what is up the road and how God will fulfill His word. However, the one thing that we can be sure of is that HE WILL. 2 Corinthians 1:20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. (NIV)

            Therefore, let us be reminded that God expects us to always have faith for He can never make a promise that He will not keep. Regardless of how long the wait, trust in the Lord and be of good courage. Know that the wait will be worth it in the end. Psalm 27:13-14 I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (NIV)