Genesis 16:2  So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.    

    I know my way around Illinois and Indiana fairly well. But when I got behind the wheel in England, I was utterly clueless! Without the aid of Apple Maps, I would never have attempted to drive anywhere over there! But, even having said that, there were a few times when Siri said to turn left and I felt sure I should go straight or turn right. I just had a feeling! But in those times, I reminded myself to ‘trust the process.’ No surprise, Siri was right!

    Abram and Sarai had been given a promise that they would be the founders of a great nation! But they didn’t even have one child and they were old and getting older! But God was very clear that it would happen. Then, one of the hardest aspects of following God set in: the waiting. Sarai grew tired of waiting. In her impatience, she began to devise her own plans. She had a slave. Any child the slave had would also be hers. Problem solved! 

    She went to Abram with her plan. I think that Abram was also tired of waiting. He wanted a son. (He probably also was tired of hearing Sarai’s complaints - he didn’t like to see her suffer.) So he “listened to the voice of Sarai.” Now, on the whole, listening to one another in marriage is a real plus. But not in this case. 

    God had already told Abram what was going to happen. He didn’t give him all the details. Same with Sarai. They knew what they were supposed to do next - wait. But waiting is hard. When Siri says, “In ten miles turn right”, it can be hard to follow her direction when we see what looks right to us before then. But we have to trust the process! If we knew exactly where we were going, we wouldn’t need Siri! And if we knew exactly what was going to happen in our lives and how to navigate all the ups and downs, maybe we wouldn’t need God. But we don’t know that. We do need God. 

    He has given us His Word - the Bible - for our guidebook. Sometimes following His Word is easy and makes perfect sense. Sometimes following His Word is really difficult and we can devise all sorts of schemes to make things ‘better’. But don’t!  Follow Him!  Trust the process!

 

Blessings,

Pastor Russ