I'm going through a tough season right now, and I often am left wondering when it is going to end. It seems that a lot of the things that I poured my love and energy into these last years, have all come to nought. I keep wondering, and wrestling with God as to why things are like this. I am greatly encouraged and refreshed after reading Galations 4 & 5, renewed in my faith that everything I put in God's hands comes together as only He can put things together, and that my human effort is indeed, NOT what I should be relying on.
Gal. 4:21-30
Abraham’s had two sons: Ishmael and Isaac. The first was produced from a human desire to achieve God’s promise, or rather, an attempt to achieve by human hands the things that only God can bring about and can and should give. The second was born from "God's own fulfillment of his promise" (Gal. 4:23).
This same lesson is first seen in Genesis. The first pitfall, and a mistake mankind will continue to make: To take something that God has purpose and blessed, into our own hands, because of our lack of trust in Him, and our selfish desire for more, NOW.
God meant for Adam and Eve the eat from the Tree of Life, yet because they chose to achieve their desires -and so to fulfill Gods plans for them- through their own means, they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Over and over, we make the same mistake, and decide that our desires are not to be entrusted to God. What did it do to Adam and Eve? It put them under the yoke of sin, and thereby, the law. What did it do to Ishmael and Isaac? It literally made lshmael a slave, and figuratively, a slave to the law. It also broke their relationship, because the foundation was wrong.
It says in Isaiah 54:1 “Rejoice, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into joyful shout, you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband.”
Now to most of us, that seems a little weird to rejoice in not having children. Aren’t they a gift from God and a joy to have? Yes, but how many of us would want our children to live in slavery, in bondage? It is better to wait for God to fulfill His promise, than to try to accomplish it on our own and to be left with consequences of our sin and selfish desires. Moreover, that sin has effect on not only us, but also on those around us.
Those who choose not to trust in God’s plan, and live instead in bondage to the law (and thereby also to the flesh and selfish desire), will not inherit His Kingdom.
Sometimes, we get to the point where we are so ready to pick up our ashes, the rags and chains we lived in first, so that we can get on with things, so that we can feel in control and understand better how to function. But beware! It is better to wait on God and have little now, but great treasure later, than to have it all now, and to end with nothing (Parable of the Rich Young Man).
I was walking with a few friends in the countryside just last Saturday. We passed by a field owned by “Abraham and Company, Ltd.’, or something close to that. The field was lying fallow, as yet unplowed and not made ready for spring planting. And it made me think of Abraham, waiting his whole life, with a field lying fallow, waiting for God to produce the harvest He promised. And it reminded me: Things sometimes need to lie fallow, need to die really, before a new harvest can be produced. And so it is with us, we truly must wait, die to self, before we can step into a new life and purpose in Christ.
Like a house built on a solid foundation, if we allow our roots to grow deep in Christ, even when what is seen on the surface, the tree or the wheat or the flower, is chopped off, we can remain strong and we will not be overcome by the storms of life.
But if we built our house on sand, only eager to see the outward fruits of our labor, without bothering to sit long enough to establish roots and a solid foundation, we will be ruined by the storms of life, or even by a small wind. (Luke 6:46-49).
Even if we, like Abraham, take matters into our own hands, thank God that He is full of grace, and is always faithful to accomplish His Word! Let us trust in that Word now, rather than wasting our time of the same mistakes man has made since the beginning of time!
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