In the Waiting Room
30 Days in Genesis part one - day 28
The story of Hagar and Ishmael is a cautionary tale. It teaches us the danger of refusing to wait on the Lord.
God had made Abram a promise about a son. But the years kept passing. Abram was getting older. Sarai was getting older. And still there was no child.
Sarai believed she understood the problem. The Lord, she said, had restrained her from bearing children. She had thought it through carefully and came up with a solution. She had a maidservant named Hagar. Abram could have a son through her.
Abram agreed to the plan.
On the surface, the idea almost appeared spiritual. Sarai’s suggestion sounded sacrificial, practical, and even helpful toward accomplishing what God had promised. But faith does not invent its own shortcuts. What looked wise was actually unbelief.
Just one chapter earlier, God had made a covenant with Abram and took upon Himself the responsibility of fulfilling it. But now Abram and Sarai began acting as though the covenant depended upon their own ingenuity and effort. They were trying to fix for God what only God could accomplish.
The results were disastrous.
Sarai became bitter and harsh toward Hagar. Abram became passive and irresponsible. Hagar suffered mistreatment and fled. Ishmael would grow up outside the line of promise, and conflict between his descendants and the descendants of Isaac would echo through history.
Nothing good comes from our impatience with God.
One of the striking things about this chapter is how ordinary the temptation feels. Abram and Sarai were not rejecting God outright. They simply became tired of waiting. They looked at the passing years, looked at the obstacles in front of them, and decided to take matters into their own hands.
That temptation still follows us today.
Sometimes we know what God says, but we do not like His timing. We become restless. We begin forcing doors open. We manipulate circumstances. We justify questionable decisions because we convince ourselves we are helping accomplish God’s will.
But God does not need our schemes in order to keep His promises.
Waiting on the Lord is not laziness or passivity. It is choosing obedience over self-reliance while trusting God to work in His own time.
So many painful situations in life come from refusing to wait.
What are you trying to fix for God today?
Where are you tempted to force something instead of trusting Him?
What would it look like to patiently obey and leave the results in His hands?
