Blog Post

Does God Need Our Help

Abram listened to the voice of Sarai… He went into Hagar, and
she conceived

Genesis 16

This isn’t going fast enough. Let me help this along
Have you ever done that; tried to help God out?

I can remember, years ago, a group of friends and I were visiting.
I loved these dear people. Their hearts were desperate for God, their hunger
spilled on others around them, causing my heart to ache for the closeness they
had to my Lord.

We began sharing stories of times when God had intervened.
For hours we shared together what He had done. As we shared, more things came
to mind. Small, everyday occurrences suddenly took on the miraculous.

I remember thinking at the time, “was this incident really that
extraordinary, or am I enhancing details so I can boast about God’s glory?

Let me emphasize here, we weren’t trying to “outdo” each
other. We were being sincere in our desire to praise God. It made me think how
much I wanted God to be engaged in every aspect of my life.
I wanted others to see His perfect will, and how all things work to his
glory,
but at the same time, I wanted to make God enormous in the eyes of

those I was with.
Yes, our God is involved, even when we don’t see Him working, and this time
together did reveal moments He had worked and I hadn’t taken the time to
notice.
But God didn’t need my help in making Himself look bigger.

In the imperfectness of this world, I can’t always see where God is going in
every situation.
In my zeal to bring Him glory, I often try to fix things, so they look
good to those in the world around me.
Am I the only one to do this, or have you also fallen into this trap?

I wonder if this is what Abram was trying to do.
He knew God. He believed God. His life was an example of stepping out in faith
and following what God had told him to do.
I wonder if Abram’s mindset in sleeping with Sarai, was trying to protect and
build up the name of God.
I agree that Abram had his own desires in mind, he did want a son, but I don’t
think he was trying to disobey. After all, don’t we do this ourselves? Don’t we
often try to make God’s will happen in our own timing? We don’t want
to go outside of God’s will, we just wanted to help it along.

God doesn’t need our help. He has everything in His perfect control.
Look what happened when Abram helped God.
Years… centuries later, we are still feeling its effects. Much of the disrest
in the world today comes from that one little mistake.

Isaiah 64:4
Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen
any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those
who wait for him.

 

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