Day 21 – Don’t Birth Ishmaels~ Julie Earl
Galatians 4:17-23
17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. 18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. 19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!
21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.
Julie’s Nugget
We can all think of things we’ve done that were “born according to the flesh” rather than according to the “divine promise” of the Spirit. Just as Abraham and Sarah got impatient and brought in Hagar to give Abraham a son (Ishmael), we sometimes get impatient with God and take things into our own hands.
A common example of this is in dating and marriage. Many people get in a hurry to find their spouse, and rather than waiting on God for the right person, they settle for a Hagar. They miss out on God’s will because they choose to walk in the flesh rather than in the wisdom of the Spirit.
When I was younger, there were a number of times I walked in the flesh by getting ahead of God in ministry. I would start a Bible study or Christian activity that I felt would be helpful, but they would end up fizzling because I was doing them in my flesh rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to lead me.
In every area of our lives, no matter how good something looks, it’s vital that we wait until God gives us His peace and His yes to move forward. If we have any sort of check, or uncertainty, in our hearts, we need to wait on God and see what He is telling us. I’ve had countless times where God gave me a check or uncomfortable feeling about something, and then later I was able to see why God had stopped me from doing whatever it was.
To Ponder
Is there an area in your life where you are running ahead of God or making decisions without His blessing? We all know what happened as a result of Abraham and Sarah’s sinful decision. Ishmael ended up becoming the father of the Arabs, and to this day they are still trying to destroy the Israelites.
The bottom line is that we need to fall more in love with the Father every day, so that trusting Him is always our first and only response. God is passionately in love with us, and will only lead us into what is best for us. What a promise!
Bless you as you trust God 100%!
He is worthy of your trust,
Julie Earl
[All scripture taken from the New International Version. Bold lettering mine.]