No one willingly wants to manipulate the promises of God. But it happens more than we care to admit.
Because Waiting On God to Fulfill His Promises is HARD
Take Sarah in Genesis chapter 16 for example. She believed God for the promise of descendants but had a hard time waiting on God to deliver.
Her belief IN God convinced her that her actions to make God’s promises happen in a timely manner must be of God as well. And there’s where the fine line is.
In Genesis 16:2, Sarai states, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave, perhaps through her I can build a family….”
At this point in Sarai’s life, she was approximately 77 years old. There has been no mention of her trying to manipulate life to get a son up to this point. It was only AFTER she heard God’s promise of a child that she started to get restless. It was only AFTER she gained hope and insight into God’s plan that she suddenly felt the responsibility to make God’s promise happen.
We tend to do the same don’t we?
We read promises of God and then suddenly believe it’s our responsibility to bring those promises to fruition quickly.
In order to claim the promise that all things work together for good, we make the “good” up or simply minimize the ‘bad. We proclaim we no longer have a spirit of fear. But in actuality, our souls are shaking but we’re too scared to say it aloud to God. We don’t trust He will take it away in His timing. And the list could go on.
Our Response When Manipulating Doesn’t Result in God’s Promise fulfilled
We respond like Sarai in Genesis 16: 5 as she looks at Abraham and states, “You are responsible for my suffering!”
Blaming God and others while refusing to accept our role tends to be our default. Then, in the back of our mind, we start to question God. Is He really big enough to fulfill promises? We forget God is always in the business of fulfilling His promises. We just need to be in the business of waiting and letting Him do the fulfilling.
As for the rest of this story, we see God’s mercy and kindness as he comes back in Genesis 17:16 and closes the loophole so Sarah won’t be tempted to bring about his promises on her own by stating to Abraham “I will bless her, indeed, I will give you a son by her…”
God Doesn’t Need Our Help
God is able to bring about what He has promised you all on His own. All He asks of you is to follow Him. So next time you’re tempted to manipulate life in order to quickly gain what you believe God has promised you, take a deep breath and pause. Press into the waiting and let God fulfill his promises in His timing. He can be trusted, He does not lie, and He doesn’t need our help to fulfill His promises in a timely manner.
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