Trail Mix #109, He Believed God

Paul wrote to the Galatians, "Consider Abraham. He believed God ..." Abraham believed God, even when what God told him seemed impossible. "For I have made you a father of many nations," God said. (Genesis 17:5) "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" Abraham asked? (Genesis 17:17) "Then God said, "Yes ..." (Genesis 17:19)

With his letter to the Galatians, Paul was quite frustrated by the state they were in. "Are you so foolish? After being with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" He asked. (Galatians 3:3) I wonder how often we do the same thing? This tendency to take over the reins of our own lives and put God in the back seat; where does that get us? If you know the story of Abraham at all, even after the promise, he and Sarah decided they'd help God out a little by bringing in a surrogate. And it kind of messed things up.

Has God promised you a blessing that hasn't happened yet? A ministry maybe? A job position? A relationship? Patience and perseverance are tough virtues to maintain when you're in a valley waiting on God. I have a suggestion though. Joshua wrote, "choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve ..." (Joshua 24:15) Choose to believe God, and His promise, and walk in that. The enemy comes with his surrogates, (short cuts, "microwave" blessings, etc.) and we fall victim to them. We mean well. We may even think it's God. But I think on a deeper level, down there where the Spirit of Jesus hangs out, we all know when we take a little southern detour in our walk with God.

A little later Paul writes, "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." (Galatians 5:15) And that is the ingredient that is so opposed in the believers life. For if Satan can disrupt you on that level, it all begins to feel pretty crummy. Frustration, anxiety, irritability, and all kinds of challenges on your character present themselves. Joshua concluded, "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." What does that look like for you, and for your household? Have faith that what God promised, He will deliver. Don't give in to the temptation to "attain your goal by human effort." If you can't see God in it, it is not from God.

Greg Tutwiler, CCLC, BCPC