Our Will Over God's Will
Scripture: Genesis
16 v 2:
"And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord
hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be
that I may obtain children by her: and Abram hearkened unto the voice of
Sarai....(v 16)..Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram."
Our God makes His will very clear to us. He speaks into
our heart that which He proposes for us to do. In the above case, He told Abram
that he would be the father of many generations of people. His wife was barren
and over 80 years old. They agreed that Hagar should be the mother of Abram's
son. It is known today as 'making an Ishmael'.
God visited Abram and changed his and Sarai's names to
Abraham and Sarah which led to the birth of Isaac in their old age. Isaac was
the father of Jacob who had 12 sons which became the 12 patriarchs of the 12
tribes of Israel.
Ishmael also had 12 sons from which the main Arab nations
sprang. These claim that Ishmael was Abraham's firstborn son and therefore they
are the true inheritors of the land of Israel. But God's covenant was not with
Ishmael it was with Jacob.
Romans 9 v 7: "Neither , because they are the seed
of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be
called."
And neither side will give way!
We 'make an Ishmael' every time we use some handy
practical substitute to fulfil prophecy or an instruction from God, causing a
warp in His perfect plan. In our cleverness we add a short cut, or subtract a
seemingly inconvenient obstacle to "help God get it right". Our Lord
God doesn't need our help! We are instruments He uses to get the job done but
if that instrument is busy doing its own thing, He chooses another.
It results in hurt, confusion, anger, jealousy and other
fleshly manifestations that will require much ministry and healing to restore
the person. As Israel is experiencing, we must too, there are long term unhappy
consequences when we alter and amend God's plan for us. In every case
prevention is better than cure.
So if you are busy with something right now and realise
you are on your way to making an Ishmael now is your opportunity to scrap it
and let God bring it to pass in His own time and way. He really knows what He
is doing and every seeming obstacle is actually there for us to put ourselves
right for miracles to happen.
Prayer: Father God I acknowledge that Your ways are higher
than my ways. It is vain for me to try to improve on Your perfect will. Forgive
me for insulting Your intelligence and I release everything You have initiated
into Your hands. In Jesus' name. Amen.