Timing is Everything
If only we knew that God was about to help us before we took matters into our own hands, how much better life would be.
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram, "You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!" But Abram said to Sarai, "Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please." Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her. The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am running away from my mistress Sarai." The angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit to her." The angel of the Lord also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude." And the angel of the Lord said to her, "Now you have conceived and shall bear a son; you shall call him Ishmael, for the Lord has given heed to your affliction. He shall be a wild ass of a man, with his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; and he shall live at odds with all his kin." So she named the Lord who spoke to her, "You are El-roi" for she said, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?" Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. - Gen. 16:1-14
Sarai had no way of knowing that God would grant her a child in her old age, so she took it upon herself to find a way to give Abram an heir.
By having her servant, Hagar, submit to Abram and conceive, Sarai elevated Hagar to a greater position in the family of Abram, making her equal to Sarai.
But Hagar was not pleased with her mistress for taking advantage of her, and that act of defiance got her banned, only to have God find her and convince her to return.
How was Sarai to know that God would eventually give her a child of her own?
We could ask ourselves why God would want to help Sarai now, after how she treated her slave.
What this points out for me is that God doesn't stop us from doing stupid things, even when He is planning on helping us.
It is our free will that gives us the ability and the right to choose.
Some might say that everything is predestined and we cannot change what will happen, but the evidence suggests otherwise.
God gave us the ability to say "No" to Him, and that's a big deal.
How many parents are OK with their children saying "No" to them?
Our response is often punishment for disobedience.
Not God. At least not all the time.
If only we knew that God was going to act in our favor before we acted for ourselves.
Oh, but that would be faith, wouldn't it?
More to come...