“So Sarai said to Abram, “See here, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. I am asking you to go in to [the bed of] my maid [so that she may bear you a child]; perhaps I will obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to Sarai and did as she said.” – Genesis 16:2 (AMP)

Abram and Sarai were old and well stricken in age but without a child of their own. The voice of any baby you hear in their household belonged to their servants who had wives and also worked and lived with them. The couple knew the Hebrew God and they served Him wholeheartedly. They have prayed, wept, waited and trusted in His divine power to give them a child of their own but nothing happened for more than seventy years of marriage.

But, to show them that He didn’t forget them, God gave them His Word. He promised them a son. It didn’t make any sense to them any more, especially Sarai because she felt that she had long reached menopause and Abram had longed been old. So, naturally, there was no way she could be pregnant even if Abram could still perform his role as a man but the One who promised them knew and made all these natural laws and He could override it at His will.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick and the spirit weary, says the Scripture and this was what happened to Sarah especially. She decided to lean to the culture of the day to have a temporary solution to the problem. She gave Hagar, her maidservant to Abram so that she could have a child through her as permissible by the culture of the day. The result she intended was realized but that was not the result God intended. And this gave birth to chaos that the whole world still suffer from till now.

She did have a son through another means other than God’s Word but it wasn’t God’s will. To God, the end does not justify the means but the means justifies the end. God gives His Word to His people and He wants them to trust Him completely even when His promises are seemingly difficult by the standards of natural laws. God later fulfilled His promise but the deed had been done and the consequences could not be easily forgotten.

Dear believer, when God gives you a word or a promise, don’t try to help Him fulfill it. Let Him fulfill His Word the way He wants and at the time He wants to. There is no one who has ever helped God that has really enjoyed the outcome. Waiting upon God to fulfill His promises may look like foolishness but it is the best wisdom to apply. God is faithful and He will never promise what He cannot do. Don’t look for another alternative to God. Let Him do things according to His will and you will truly enjoy the fruit.

Reflections: What promises of God to me have I made efforts to fulfill by myself without patiently waiting for Him? What are the results? What should I do differently?

Confession: I have strength to wait upon the Lord until His Word comes to pass in my life. I live in the reality of what God as promised me. I resist every urge to find an alternative to God’s promises to me.

Related Scripture: Genesis 16

Bible Reading: Genesis 35