Taking It Into Your Own Hands

We are told in God's Word to "Be still and wait patiently for the Lord," to "Be still and know that [He is] God" and that "In quietness and trust is [our] strength." (Psalm 37:7, Psalm 46:10, Is 30:15).
Psalm 37:4-5 says "Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him and He will do this." In fact, we are told repeatedly in Psalms and by the prophet Isaiah to "Trust in the Lord" - over and over and over. Additionally, Proverbs 3:5 says "Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."

I was struggling with all of this very recently while I was dealing with something I have been dealing with for quite some time. It is a desire that I have that I tend to let go of and lay at God's feet every so often, only to take it back up again and fret over it after a few weeks of leaving it with God. Ever have one of those? I can get to a point of total peace where I say "Okay, Lord, I have given this desire to You, I have laid it at Your feet, and I trust You that Your will be done and that you will meet ALL of my needs in Christ Jesus" and I really can let go of it and feel 100 pounds lighter, free of my burden. Then, out of nowhere - bam! It's back, knocking at my door saying "Hellooooo! Remember me? I'm still here! Watcha gonna do about it?" and then I have to start over again, piece by piece giving it back to God and letting go.
Well, a few weeks ago when this desire came knocking at my door and then banging at my door and then pounding on my doorbell repeatedly, I became tempted to just take matters into my own hands. I knew I had given it to God, but then I figured that He's so busy with the rest of the world and all, that maybe He just needed a tee-tiny littttle bit of help from me. Maybe if I just pull this string here and that string there, I can just ease things along a little bit and make it all go a little faster. Never mind that God had previously given me a peace about my desire and had previously told me He would take care of it in HIS timing. Here it was again, at my front door, and I was just itching to throw that door wide open in my own flesh.

Mercifully and with grace, during all of this, God gave me the familiar story of Sarah and Hagar in Genesis Chapters 15-17 . In chapter 15, we see God promise to Abraham of a son, an heir. Abraham believes God "and it is credited to him as righteousness". But Sarah has a bit of a problem with waiting to see how this promise will unfold according to GOD'S plan, so she decides to help things along a bit (Sound familiar?) She decides to pull a string here, pull a string there, and....well....to throw her maidservant (Hagar) into bed with her own husband so that an heir can be born in HER timing. It's so easy to shake our heads at this story and say "Sarah, Sarah, Sarah...what were you thinking???" but how often have we done the same?
So, as the history tells us, Hagar does in fact become pregnant and gives birth to Ishmael who, according to the Lord, "will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." Ishmael was NOT the child of the promise and covenant (that would be Isaac); Ishmael was the child borne of Sarah's fleshly manipulation and now, because Sarah did not "Wait upon the Lord," she has ended up hurting herself, her husband, her maidservant, and the innocent baby Ishmael. Now that ought to make you sit up and think about waiting for God's timing.
When God gave this story to me, He gave it with a gentle warning: "Daughter....DON'T give birth to an Ishmael." It was that simple, and has been repeated to me many times when I'm tempted to take things in my own hands: "Daughter, don't give birth to an Ishmael."
So... I have a choice. I can take things into my own hands and manipulate my situation and maybe a small representation of God's answer to my desires can be popped out as a result of my manipulations and scheming...OR, I can wait on HIS will and perfect timing and gain the FULL representation of His perfect promise. In short, I have to ask myself if I would rather have an Ishmael, the quick way...my way....or would I rather have an ISAAC - in God's timing and according to HIS plan?
After carefully weighing all my options and looking at the path in front of me, I have decided that I want an Isaac, not an Ishmael. So each time my desire comes banging at my door, I will stand on the other side of the door, praying for God's answer to the knocking and not my own...and I will NOT go and answer that door until God opens it FOR me.

* I just have to add: It is easy to look at the story of Sarah and Hagar and Ishmael and to see this as God not being fair. Why should Hagar and Ishmael suffer because of obeying the master's wife? And what about poor Sarah who had a momentary lapse in judgement? This can all add fuel to Satan's fire of wanting us to see God as unfair and punishing. Please read on, though, and see that God does redeem the situation after a mediation by Abraham -see Gen 17:19-27 -
Please read this Scripture and know that just as God redeemed Sarah's mistake and later let her be known as one of the "holy women of the past who put their hope in God..." and as a "beautiful" woman (1 Peter 3:5-6) - God will also one day redeem OUR mistakes through OUR mediator, Christ Jesus - see 1 Tim 2:5 and Heb 9:15). Praise Him for His MERCY and His GRACE. Amen!