When I think 'I know best' - Gen 17:15-19

GEN 17:15-19 NIVUK

God also said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’   Abraham fell face down; he laughed and said to himself, ‘Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?’ And Abraham said to God, ‘If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!’   Then God said, ‘Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

In some areas of life I am sure that I know my limitations. For example, I know that I can have a go at fixing minor things in my car, but if the garage tell me that the gear box is failing, I know that it's a job for them, not me. In fact, truth be told, even the minor jobs on the car are better left to the experts!

Isn't it strange, then, that I'm so foolish with how I react to what God says? God shows me clearly in His word what is wrong in my life, and He clearly tells me not only how He has already dealt with it in Jesus, but also how to live for Him in His strength as I go on. Yet, what do I do? I start working on my own way ahead, my own self-improvement programmes, my own ways of sorting things out. The reality is that like Abraham, I'm looking at God's way, telling myself it's impossible, and then telling God how He should do it!

It's really foolish if I stopped to think. Abraham thought that there was no way that Sarah could have a child, yet he had forgotten that it was our Creator who was promising him a child through Sarah. Abraham thought that a man's feeble mind could think through the problem and come up with the best solution, but he forgot that we are so finite and yet God who shows us the way to go is infinite in His wisdom. 

And what trouble Abraham's way has brought to many people through history. The consequences of his lack of trust in God continue to be felt today.

Yet God is so gracious... Even those other nations were used by Him to train His people in the way they should go. Our foolishness and sin never defeats His sovereignty! 

But we need to heed the warning... How I need to learn never to tell God what His way should be. Rather I need to bow my knees before Him, no matter how difficult or impossible His way may seem, and simply say 'Your will be done' and then get up to walk in His way by His strength.