No Parking

As my walk continued I stopped abruptly. The dog tugged on the leash and looked back with a come on glimpse on his face. A thought suddenly came upon me during a routine walk. I processed the connection of what I had previously read in my bible study to the life I currently live. I had an ah ha moment…

Before God changed Sarah’s name, she grew impatient and began to doubt resulting in Abraham laying with another woman to have the child God spoke so promisingly about. Granted years passed during her wait, but she jumped the gun and caused much havoc on her life, the life of Abraham and even the life of Hagar (the other woman). We all know the story, but for some reason my brain honed into verse 2 of chapter 15 in Genesis. “God has prevented me from having children.”

Wait a minute. Didn’t God Himself promise Abraham a child - as many descendants as the stars in the sky? In verse 2 of chapter 15 Sarah spoke words completely contradictory to the words spoken by God. Audible words! Directly to Moses! So why did Abraham lay with another woman believing her words over God? I find it fascinating how intricately God spoke to Abraham with great detail. God did not leave much room for Abraham to draw his own conclusions or act without clear-cut direction. God was very peculiar with Abraham and there were no specifics of him having a child with another woman. So why did he do it?

If so much time had not passed, Sarah might have doubted a little less. She might have been more faithful in the wait. Her eyes more focused on what God said and less keen to her human ways of thinking. Despite her doubt, Hebrews documents her as a woman of great faith believing God could make the impossible possible. Even with verse 2 of chapter 15 in Genesis. Why? Sarah was a real person with human flaw coupled with great faith. We can learn from her walk. We can relate to Sarah. She was one of us.

God has recently relayed a message to me many times over. Stay home with your kids, raise them well and start writing to share My Good News. Many times the nudge seems crazy and unbelievable. Then God acts. He starts to make things in our life change or happen in a way that shows He is serious. Sure we have a choice to walk the other way, but we strongly feel we need to jump on board. My husband gets his personal nudges to support this crazy God thing and while we believe God to be serious and faithful, it is hard to say no to our impatient thoughts. As Sarah thought it crazy for her to be with child, I often times find it crazy God chose me for this task. I find myself lost in the how and whys of it all – just like Sarah.  My baby is yet to be born, but I learned from Abraham and Sarah to wait for God because His timing and ways are perfect.

I’ve made the Sarah mistake so many other times. Oh the chaos and turmoil I have created in my life and even worse – other people. People I love. When I thought I was doing right, my people were hurt because of my words and actions. It stinks to watch people shed tears I have created. It furthers my anxiety when I see anger sprout from my wrongdoings. My timing was off. My reasoning was selfish and limited.  

Prayer is meaningful movement
while you wait.

I can’t sit idle. There is no time to park. Much is to be learned. Prayer is needed and although prayer can seem like we are doing nothing, we are far from parked. We are calling on our Heavenly Father to work in what seems impossible with a lot of how and whys floating around.

Circumstances can get hard and cloudy in the wait. Think of Hagar running through the dessert in panic because life had gotten so crazy. All because one person got impatient and spoke words with selfish passion and influence. Words shared with emotion and eagerness can make a difference so we need to be focused on our Heavenly Father when we speak for movement and change. We need to be in prayer and conversation with God when things become dismal and questionable.

“Be still and know I am God” does not mean to park and sit idle. Prayer is movement. Prayer provides answer, patience, faithfulness and promise.

Why did Abraham listen to Sarah when she spoke contradictory to God’s words? Why didn’t he reassure her God would come through? Because they were human and we humans can screw things up quickly. Perhaps with good intentions, but we try to play God when it seems God has not come through yet. When the going gets tough, we fall to our human tendencies. We speak words that seem true. We speak them until they seem real and drown out the promises of our Heavenly Father because the wait is hard and we look to our own understanding and reasoning.

So today I am reassuring and stand firm in the fact God will come through. Let’s wait on God’s faithfulness today as we wait in motion. We are not meant to wait doing nothing expecting fireballs to fall from the sky. We need to keep putting one foot in front of the other, learning and growing closer to Christ so we can be sure we acting out his love and his will.

God May our still be only long enough to listen for your will – learning from your Word and feeling the Holy Spirit guide us. Help us learn from stories in the Bible gifted to us to shield us from making mistakes only stumbling blocks on our journey. God I thank you for being close and personal to me in my study time with You. I pray those who have read these words would have time to dedicate to You so they too can witness your presence in their daily life. I thank You for the cross and the Bible that allows our faith to exist and grow. In Jesus Holy name I pray. Amen.

Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means the Lord will provide). - Genesis 22:14

My faith is in Yahweh for I believe He will provide!