Faith Over Frustration
“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had one him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, ‘The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.’” - Genesis 16:1-2
In Genesis 16, we learn that Abram has struggled with the fact that what the Lord has promised him has yet to happen. It is challenging for Abram to wait on God when it seems that God is taking His time. Even after Abram mustered up the faith to trust and believe that God would do what He said He would do, he still wrestled with when and how God would do it.
The frustration is shared by his wife Sarai who is also deeply invested in the promise God gave Abram in Genesis 12. Abram didn’t just leave Ur of the Chaldees by himself. Sarai also uprooted herself, left her family, walked away from her hometown, and put her own personal dreams aside to follow the dreams of her man who claimed God spoke to him about a land that was flowing with milk and honey.
Sarai has an idea that can solve the problem. She comes up with a plan to fix their frustration. She has a young handmaiden, her personal assistant, a servant girl named Hagar who is beautiful, fertile, and available.
Sarai wants Abram to sleep with Hagar so that she can have a child through her handmaiden. It is a plan that everyone apparently buys into. There is only one problem with the plan… it isn’t God’s plan, and it is incompatible with God’s purpose and God’s promise for their lives.
No matter where you are on your journey of following God, never make a decision driven by frustration. Do not choose frustration over faith. If God promised you He would do something, He will do exactly what He said. No question about it.
But if you get ahead of God, and do your own thing, there are consequences. Choose faith over frustration, and God will bless you for it.
In Genesis 16, we learn that Abram has struggled with the fact that what the Lord has promised him has yet to happen. It is challenging for Abram to wait on God when it seems that God is taking His time. Even after Abram mustered up the faith to trust and believe that God would do what He said He would do, he still wrestled with when and how God would do it.
The frustration is shared by his wife Sarai who is also deeply invested in the promise God gave Abram in Genesis 12. Abram didn’t just leave Ur of the Chaldees by himself. Sarai also uprooted herself, left her family, walked away from her hometown, and put her own personal dreams aside to follow the dreams of her man who claimed God spoke to him about a land that was flowing with milk and honey.
Sarai has an idea that can solve the problem. She comes up with a plan to fix their frustration. She has a young handmaiden, her personal assistant, a servant girl named Hagar who is beautiful, fertile, and available.
Sarai wants Abram to sleep with Hagar so that she can have a child through her handmaiden. It is a plan that everyone apparently buys into. There is only one problem with the plan… it isn’t God’s plan, and it is incompatible with God’s purpose and God’s promise for their lives.
No matter where you are on your journey of following God, never make a decision driven by frustration. Do not choose frustration over faith. If God promised you He would do something, He will do exactly what He said. No question about it.
But if you get ahead of God, and do your own thing, there are consequences. Choose faith over frustration, and God will bless you for it.
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