Perhaps, I...

“So she said to Abram, ‘The Lord has kept me from having children.  Go, sleep with my maid servant; perhaps I can build a family through her’” Gen 16:2.

We most likely have heard this story a million times…God promised a baby…Sarai became impatient …she advanced her own plan…the woman got pregnant…Sarai got mad.  One of the most dangerous things in reading Scripture is not connecting with a story’s application due to familiarity.  Yet when we slow down and read this story as if it is our own it becomes overwhelmingly relevant.  There have been more than a few Christians who have uttered these same haunting words… ‘Perhaps, I…’

There are fewer dangers greater than taking matters into our own hands regarding a promise God has sweetly shared with us.  Promises are heavenly things that come directly from God’s hands.  ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father’ James 1:17.  What makes it good is its nature but what makes it perfect is God’s execution of giving it to us.  God promised Sarai that she would have a baby.  But she became tired of sitting in the uncertainty of the when’s and how’s.  She was most likely sleep deprived from lying awake at night wondering would this be the day.  Her thoughts always circled throughout the day back around to the lack in the situation.  Then one day her thoughts of lack motivated her to move into her own plan.  The results were devastating for her entire household and still she came up empty with her dreams. 

There are three P’s when God promises us something…Promise, preparation and proper timing.  Whatever it is He has promised takes planning and preparation in fulfilling that promise.  This is where so many Christians get tripped up.  They move from patience to impatience and faith to folly.  ‘Perhaps I…’ becomes their focus instead of ‘Certainly He...’  If God gives us a vision or a promise we must allow Him the time He determines best fulfills the promise.  We cannot see the things that God is arranging in the heavenlies.  Just because we are sitting stagnant in a situation doesn’t mean that God is.  He is up there working, planning and thinking about you desiring to give you the dreams in your heart.  We cannot get overly discouraged in the wait and scheme to work Him into our plan.  We must stay steadfast in our faith so that He can work us into His plan for our lives.

 ‘Let us not become weary…for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up’ Gal 6:9.