Second Guessing God
Abraham is the father of our faith, but he didn’t get there overnight. God took Abraham on a journey to get there. Genesis 12 – “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will cause you to become the father of a great nation.” Along the journey, however, Abraham struggles to believe God’s promise and begins looking for a shortcut.
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Abraham tells his wife, Sarah (who is also his half sister) to lie when they enter a city, telling the people that they are brother and sister so that the king of the land will not kill him and take Sarah for his own. Genesis records two times when she is taken away to be part of the king’s harem and God has to intervene to set the situation straight.
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Abraham is promised a son, but he becomes impatient. Surely God must need a little help to make the deadline. Abraham’s impatience leads to his son Ishmael, through Sarah’s servant, Hagar.
Abraham seems to have trouble believing that God will do whatever is necessary (including keeping him safe and giving him a child) in order to fulfill his promises. In Abraham’s life we see these examples of him second guessing God, trying to “help” God’s plan along. Trying to give it a nudge in the right direction. Trying to make sense out of a plan that seems illogical.
I’ve been there many times, maybe you have too. God’s plan doesn’t always seem logical. Or, maybe it never seems logical. I’m not trying to sound irreverent, however it seems God usually prefers to keep his plan hidden until the last moment.
So you find yourself in a life situation that seems less than ideal. Relational. Financial. Legal. Whatever it is, that’s where you find yourself. You’re looking around for lifelines, but you don’t see any. Maybe you even cry out to God, but you don’t hear anything…sense anything.
What do you do? Of course you start to look for an alternative route. A road that is less rocky, less bumpy. One that is smooth sailing. (Does that road even exist?)
You might start second guessing God’s plan for you. “This can’t be it God, I’m sure you wouldn’t do ‘it’ this way. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Don’t assume that God will not work in a situation that has potential problems. Those potential problems may seem scary to us, but I guarantee they do not make God nervous.
Isaiah 40:25 & 26: “To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out one after another, calling each by its name. And he counts them to see that none are lost or have strayed away.”
Matthew 7:28b & 29: “See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?”
This God we serve, who has set us on a journey, will care for us more than cares for the stars in the sky and the flowers in the field. We are His creation, whom He made in His own image.
Therefore, you can trust Him. Even though you may not completely understand the situation, God may intervene when you least expect it. Hold on!
Tags: Abraham, Faith, God's Plan
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