It’s not enough to trust God’s promises without also trusting his timing. The vision God has given us must be executed on his timing and not ours. And we might find ourselves in a situation like Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar when we don’t.
God promised Abraham he would have a son from his own body to become his heir. But when Sarah saw she was not having children, she gave Abraham her servant Hagar so that perhaps she could have children through her. Abraham agreed, Hagar conceived, and trouble soon followed. While God took care of Hagar and her son, it was clear that her son would not share the inheritance with the son from Sarah, as God’s promises are fulfilled through the power of the Spirit and not by human effort.
And we fall into the same Hagar-type trap when we attempt to fulfill God’s promises on our terms rather than his. For instance, this might include manipulating opportunities or arranging situations for our professional success, being seduced into a personal or business loan, or impulsively walking away from a challenging situation. On the one hand, we might be pursuing something good and honorable. But we’re setting ourselves up for much frustration when doing this in our own efforts rather than trusting God’s.
And while good might come out of these efforts, God might also choose to “get rid of the slave and her son” to make it abundantly clear that our blessings are ultimately from him and not from our own human plans and efforts. And seasons of loss or hardship might be God’s divine discipline – not to punish us per se, but rather to clean house and to refocus our eyes on him.
In the end, trust in God’s promises, and his timing. Don’t attempt to arrange it on your own terms, as God’s promises are fulfilled through the power of his Spirit, not by human efforts. Remember Hagar.
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