Dont get impatient and settle for the slave woman...

Sometimes...ok, alot of the time, we get impatient with God. We want something...whether its a good paying job, a new house, a husband, or a baby. We want it, and we know as Christians that God wants to bless us. However, often we let our impatience cause us to settle. Instead of waiting for God's promise in His perfect timing, we take things into our own hands and, like Abraham's wife Sarah, we settle for the slave woman Hagar.

Sarah knew that God had promised her her own baby. The dream and desire of her heart. But Sarah, instead of focusing on God and His promise, chose to focus on her circumstances. Her age. She let her emotions be higher than her faith, and she let herself be convinced that having her own baby wasn't possible. It says in Genesis 18:12 that Sarah overhead the Lord tell Abraham that in a years time she was going to have a child...and what did she do? She laughed and doubted that she could have such happiness. Maybe we often settle for less than God's best because we too don't believe that we will be given such happiness. Maybe we settle for what comes along first, and instead of waiting on God and trusting His timing and His blessing, we panic and think we should just settle for what we can see in the immediate.

Now there is a difference between being far too fussy or refusing to even look at what's in front of you because you are waiting for "something better to come along". But when you are believing for something...you must decide how you act during this time of waiting. Do you start to panic and look around at other options? Do you try to take things into your own hands? Don't wait for Gods timing but instead rush into something without having true peace about it? Are you inevitably trying to have your baby through a slave woman like Sarah did, rather than being patient and waiting on God.

I think it was Joyce Meyer who once said that Patience isn't waiting. Patience is how you act WHILE you are waiting. If you are grumbling, complaining, panicking or looking for other options while you wait...you actually aren't being patient. Patience means...allowing God to bring His promises and blessing into your life in His perfect timing, rather than settling for the slave woman.

If you make a choice...God can always bless it and bring out the best in it. God didn't forget about Ishmael, the slave woman's son. But it wasn't His best for Sarah. As for me...I want to wait for God's best. Which sometimes means saying no to the wrong options, as great as they may seem. It means clinging on to your faith in God, when things feel tough or dry or confusing. Staying patient and choosing not to look at your circumstances. Keeping your eyes on God's plan. And not letting your thoughts or emotions get so overwhelming that you cant hear God in the chaos of your mind/life.