“And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.”
The Lord promised Abram when He first called him that there would be generations that came from him and Sarai. In Genesis chapter 12:2-3, the Lord says to Abram, “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
The Lord demonstrated His protection of this promise when Abram and Sarai traveled to Egypt during the famine. Abram’s fear led him to tell Sarai to claim him as her brother, and she was taken into Pharoh’s house. But the Lord plagued Pharoh and his household, and Pharoh released her back to Abram.
In Genesis 15:5, the Lord again speaks to Abram about the descendants that will come from him. “And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.””
And yet with all these promises, Abram chose to listen to the voice of Sarai over the voice of the Lord, and the result was a child named Ishmael from whom many generations have come and posed direct opposition to the generations of Isaac, the son of promise.
While we would love to comment on how Abram’s faith faltered, do we not do the same? Do we not hear a whispered promise from the Lord and try to manufacture the promise through the wisdom of men around us? Who are the voices we are listening to? Who are the people we allow to speak into our lives? If we are listening to voices who hear from the Lord, their encouragement will support the direction in which the Lord has set us as Melchizedek was for Abram (Genesis 14:17-20). If we are listening to voices whose take direction from the world, we will head in a direction that may produce a ripple effect that impacts for our lifetime and perhaps beyond. Those voices may seem so reasonable and rational, and may even be coming from well-meaning believers, but as 1 Corinthians 1:27 says, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;”. God’s path for us may seem lacking in its “10-year vision”, its organization, structure and execution but this is man’s measurement of how to deal with the world around him, not God’s. God’s plans are always perfectly timed, perfectly organized and perfect in their vision.
Thank you, Lord that you are patient, long-suffering, that your love is so bountiful, never-failing and never-ending when we make the same mistakes that Abram did, choosing to listen and follow the voices of the world instead of yours.
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