Free will is a powerful and dangerous God given gift. Yet a vital one if we are to live our lives in a truly loving relationship with God. This gift is of such power, it invests us with the ability to thwart God’s desire for a loving, trusting, relationship with Him.
In Genesis 16: 7 -16 We see the consequences of trying to complete in the flesh what God began in the Spirit.
Abraham and Sarah are promised by God that they will have a son, however as the years went by, they were acutely aware that, in the natural they were not getting any younger, (something I am aware of every time I catch a glimpse of my reflection in a mirror.) They begin to try to find their own solutions in the natural to bring about (give God a hand) what God had promised in the Spirit. I am sure they were able to justify in their own minds, why the choice to conform to the cultural norms of their people and do it their way would be a reasonable solution. You never know, (they may have reasoned) our good idea might well be a ‘God’ idea. Trust and patience had run out for this couple and motivated by fear of missing out and a diminished faith in God’s ability to fulfill His promise, they tried to bring about in the natural what God had begun in the Spirit. The consequences are an ‘Ishmael’ and the impact their decision would have not only on the disharmony within the family unit, the pain and rejection of a thirteen year old boy, who had for those years been ‘the apple of his father’s eye’ and is, along with his mother sent away into the wilderness, rejected, hurt and disinherited, while Abraham and Sarah embraced the son of promise ‘Isaac’.
Hagar is promised because the child she will bear is of the seed of Abraham – that He will remember and bless him. He will be a man of war and a mighty nation shall come from Him. The child of the flesh still wars today against the child of promise – Moslem against Jews and Christians – all are dependents of Abraham. Isaiah 49 – Tells us how God fulfills his promise to Hagar and the Egyptian people. He declares the end from the beginning.
Our choices have consequences and not only impact our lives, but also the lives of others. Trusting God is not an option if we are to live in divine order. No matter how counter intuitive it is in the natural, God’s plan, God’s way and in God’s time = God’s will.
If any one of those elements are missing it may take us off course, and bring about undesired consequence, from those which God has purposed and desired. He may still fulfill His will, however we can complicate our life by trying to give God a hand.
The Father's Heart School of Discipleship 