In Genesis 16-21, God promised to give Abraham a son. The only problem was Abraham and his wife Sarah were out of their “childbearing years.” Eventually, Sarah grew tired of waiting for God's timing and took matters into her own hands. Sarah gave her maidservant Hagar to her husband in hopes of having a family through Hagar's womb. As her husband and leader, Abraham should have put his foot down and said no to Sarah's request, but he did not and the rest is history as to how those wrong choices turned out for them, as well as their descendants.
Hagar gave birth to a son, Ishmael and eventually, God gave Sarah and Abraham the child that He had promised they would have together, which they named Isaac. The birth of Sarah’s son, Isaac, represented the promise from God. Hagar’s son, Ishmael, represented Sarah and Abraham's human effort to bring about God's plan.
In his letter to the church in Galatia, Paul reminds them of this story because he knew they were being persuaded to please God through their own efforts and work. In reality, the church’s relationship with God was and is based on the promise God made through His son, Jesus. If they could place their faith fully in Jesus, they would find that there would be no need for their man made customs.
Whenever challenges arise, there are two ways to respond, God’s way or our way. In those tough situations, we’re often tempted to rely on our own logic and strength, but God's way is best. In Exodus 2, we see what happened to Moses when he took matters into his own hands. Moses focused on the difficulty instead of the Lord, and I'm thinking that you and I have done that very same thing. If the unfairness or pain of a situation grabs our attention, we can so quickly lose sight of God's work and intentions in them and take matters into our own hands.
Moses relied on his own strength and understanding in Exodus 2 as he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So as Moses looked around to see if anyone was looking and saw that there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. Moses acted out of impulse, instead of waiting on the Lord's direction. If a situation seems urgent, fixing the problem as fast as possible can easily become our top priority. But, if we respond before we have inquired with the Lord, we may very well make a great mistake, and will have to deal with the consequences after the fact. Our way may seem so logical at the time, but it won’t accomplish God’s purposes and His purpose should always be our purpose and top priority.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” Proverbs 14:12. Isaiah 40:31 says' But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Hold Fast,
-Bren
