My Daily Pause

God promised Abram that his offspring would have the lands described in Genesis 15, but even ten years later, he and Sarai still didn’t have children.

In Genesis 16, rather than wait for God to do His work, they tried to engineer their own solution. That unsanctioned act created hurt feelings and stole the stability of the family.

The lesson here is to not try to force God to keep His promises. We wait for him act according to his timetable.

 ¹ People may make plans in their minds,
but only the Lord can make them come true. – Proverbs 16:1 NCV

 ⁹ People may make plans in their minds,
but the Lord decides what they will do. – Proverbs 16:9 NCV

The Lord has final say over the paths of our lives. A Christian that desires to be a servant will gladly offer himself to God to be used in his great plan.

For whatever reason, even Christians have gotten away from acknowledging the Lord’s will as James instructs us to do (James 4:14-15). What if we developed Paul’s habit of asking the Lord to direct our way? (1 Thessalonians 3:11)