Today's devotion tackles Surrender Principle #4: Trusting God's promises will bless me, but pushing my plans will stress me.
This surrender principle seems like a no-brainer, right? Yet it's so easy for us to jump ahead of God, especially when we're afraid or feeling impatient. And when we do jump ahead of Him, we realize that we've overstepped and find ourselves asking God for help to deal with the stress and frustration.
One of the best stories in the Bible about jumping ahead of God and pushing for control is the story of Abraham and Sarah. Known as Abram and Sarai in this portion of Scripture, the couple struggled to have a baby. In the culture of the time, men desired children to carry on the family name, and a woman's social value was tied to her ability to have children. Even though they were well-off in resources, Abram and Sarai lacked the one thing they couldn't make happen on their own: a baby.
Genesis 16 records what happened when Abram and Sarai became impatient with God, who had promised Abraham that he'd have a son (Genesis 15:2, 4).
After many years of waiting, it seemed that God wasn't coming through with what was promised. In time, Sarai could no longer have a baby.
In Genesis 16, Sarai launches a plan and Abram agrees to go along with it.
Sarai said to Abram, "The LORD has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her." Genesis 16:2 NLT
Why did Abraham go along with this plan, especially when God had already told him he would have a son? It seems that because it wasn't happening on their expected timeline, Abram and Sarai assumed it wouldn't happen at all. So they took matters into their own hands.
If you read the rest of Genesis 16, a terrible mess unfolds. Hagar becomes pregnant (Genesis 16:4) and begins mistreating Sarai. Then Sarai blames Abraham for the situation (Genesis 16:5), and at one point Hagar runs off because Sarai treats her so badly. Eventually, God supernaturally enables Sarai to have a baby, but the family relationships are strained and damaged because Abram and Sarai pushed their plans instead of waiting on God.
Before we shake our heads at Abram and Sarai, how many times have we doubted God because He wasn't moving fast enough for us, so we took matters into our own hands?
Fear and impatience are powerful tempters, and we already know the regret and mess that comes when we are impatient. So let's focus on God's promises. They are so powerful, but only if we know them for ourselves. Here are just a few of the many promises of God. Which ones did you need to read today?
As much as we want our plans to work out or the picture in our heads to work out, what we need is to keep our eyes on God and not our circumstances. Focusing on God's promises keeps our eyes and our hope solely on Him. This means that if things work out, we're good. If things don't work out as we'd hoped, we're still good. But if we're locked into our plans, our hopes are tied to something that is out of our control, and that's asking for disappointment and resentment.
Dear friends, I'm waiting and praying right along with you! For years, I've prayed for prodigals and for a future spouse. When I feel fear that God may not answer my prayers, or I'm weary of waiting, I whisper Surrender Principle #4 to myself: "Don't rush ahead of God, Barb. Go at the pace of grace."
During my surrender journey, I had to learn to trust God with whatever the future holds, and He is still teaching me. I'm still tempted to straighten out my prodigals on my own. Thankfully, I've experienced the power of surrender and God's unshakeable peace, so I've learned to back off and keep trusting His promises and not push my plans. You can do this, too. It's not easy, but it's worth it!
One warning about God's promises: we must be careful not to stretch them beyond their intended meaning. The verses above, along with the other promises of God in Scripture, guarantee God's sovereignty over all things, His faithfulness in all things, and His unconditional love, but they don't guarantee specific outcomes or individual timelines.
Yes, there are times when we sense God's leading in a specific direction, but we must still apply wisdom and discernment and be careful about using specific promises to justify jumping ahead of Him.
I'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU: How do you keep from rushing ahead of God, especially when you're tired of waiting or afraid that something bad will happen?
Thank you for joining me this week. I look forward to hearing from you!
Blessings, Barb
