Day 19

“Abraham fell facedown: he laughed and said to himself. ‘Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?’ And Abraham said to God, ‘If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!’”   — GENESIS 17:17 -18

One of the biggest dangers in the Christian life is what I call, ‘unenlightened enthusiasm’. It is genuine zeal for the work of God, but uninstructed in the ways of God.  

I remember speaking at a large youth mission’s conference, and the organizers requested I invite the young people attending to commit themselves to mission fields in foreign lands. I resisted their appeal, as I have been on enough mission fields to know that there are many good, sincere, people who probably shouldn’t be there; who, drawn by the enormous needs they have seen, have responded in human enthusiasm, but not from the directing of God. It is the most natural thing in the world for a Christian in love with Jesus Christ, having been challenged with the enormous needs of our world, to volunteer to go and help meet those needs. But the need is not the call!

Abram produced Ishmael in a spirit of ‘unenlightened enthusiasm’. He had long given up hope of having the son God had promised, and decided to help the process by his own ability. Through the maid Hagar, he produced Ishmael.  And Hagar is an interesting lesson! She was an Egyptian, whom Abram had made part of his household when, outside of the will of God, he had gone to Egypt and had brought her back to Canaan. When we move out of the will of God, we are likely to accumulate baggage that will provide a convenient substitute for God’s purposes. In Abram’s eagerness to have a son, instead of waiting on God’s timing, Hagar became the alternative means of getting a son. 

Ishmael was not God’s plan. Abraham had hoped he was, and he said to God, ‘if only Ishmael might live under your blessing! Does that ring a bell? “Lord, here are my plans. Please help me with them. Bless them, Lord, and make them work.”  God does not give His blessing to our plans, our scheming and our agenda if the source is not in Him. But when God is the source, we don’t need to ask His blessing, for we can confidently thank Him for the blessing that is inevitable. Abraham did not need to ask God’s blessing on Isaac, for it had already been promised and was inevitable. 

A key to the Christian life is understanding that our lives are not built around our own activity for God, but around God’s activity in us and through us. We don’t need to be, nor should we be in control. We obey God in a context of trust in Him, and leave the consequences to Him.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for all You do. You take all the responsibility and all I need to do is walk through the doors You open. Keep me always mindful that I am called to You and that You direct my course. 

TO REFLECT UPON: Do I find myself impatient, trying to control the consequences of what God has called me to do?