“God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.” (Genesis 21:12–14, ESV)
Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. We have to be careful when we listen to people tell us that God always does what’s best for us. While that is true, all too often we interpret that to mean that our lives will onlybe filled with pleasant things. Pain will be banished and our lives will be filled with joy at all times … at least that’s how the myth goes.
Reality steps into our confused mindset almost immediately once we come to faith in Jesus. In fact, as we come to faith in Jesus we realize that it took the crucifixion of Jesusto bring about our redemption. God often leads us along the path of suffering to bring us to the place of blessing.
For Abraham, his first-born son had stolen his father’s heart. How could his wife ask him to send the boy and his mother away? What kind of woman would ask such a thing? Surely this was just his wife’s spite. In time it would blow over and things would be ok, right?
Wrong. Sometime that night, when Abraham couldn’t sleep, God came to speak. Isn’t that the way it often happens? And there, in the quiet of the starry darkness God said, “Be not displeased.” Swallow the bitter pill. Ishmael is the result of your unbelief.Now, the harvest is in and faith has burst forth on the scene in the form of Isaac. Its time to walk in faith and remove the unbelief from your life because, “through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
Perhaps as you were reading this you heard the voice of the Spirit speak to you about something or someone you need to send packing. Your unbelief led you into sin and now you have to end this. It will be painful, but it is the right thing to do. God wants to bless you. He waits for us to let go and step out in total obedience. Will you do it today?
Faith Filled Fridays hope to boost your trust in God and accelerate your daring and courage in everyday life. Dr. Matthew Lee Smith, Executive Director of Eagles In Leadership, writes each encouragement out of a heart that has known both great joy and great loss – his wife of 38 years, 5 months and 2 days was promoted to Heaven on November 11, 2017. Through every experience, God has proven Himself more than faithful and trustworthy. He welcomes your comments below.
