Resist

“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children.

But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram,

“The Lord has kept me from having children.

Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai said.”

Genesis 16:1-2

Resist!

Resist the urge to handle things on your own.

Much can be said about Sarai’s comment:

“The Lord has kept me from having children...” but the point I want to make is that we are all tempted to take matters into our own hands.

We try to justify in a hundred different ways.

We even blame God as Sarai did.

But it never ends well when our preemptive moves bypass the timetable God has set.

So again I say resist.

Don’t act on those urges.

Maybe I sound like a parent giving their young teenager THAT talk.

But the results of retreating, no matter the reason, can be far more devastating than we might imagine.

Second chances?

Sure, God gives second chances.

But like Abraham, we still may have an Ishmael to deal with.

You know that old expression – resistance is futile?

In this case it is not futile, it is essential.

It’s worth saying a third time!

Resist the urge to take matters into your own hands!