Saturday, July 16, 2011

I Have Already Done It

Glen and I were discussing Abraham and Sarah the other day, specifically regarding Abraham's choice to hearken to the voice of his wife, and to go unto Hagar her handmaid, resulting in the birth of Ishmael.  It is clear from the Scriptures that Abraham loved his son, and clearly wanted to this to be his "son of promise", but that was not God's plan.  All along the Lord had planned to to give him a son, Isaac, from Sarah.
Gen 17:15  "And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before Thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him," (Genesis 17:15-19).
Abraham had wanted to see the fulfillment of God's promise to him, but he hadn't been patient enough to wait for God to fulfill His word.  Abraham took things into his own hands to do it.    When he learns that it is not Ishmael who is to be the fulfillment of the promise, he cries out with "O that Ishmael might live before Thee!"

I love how the Lord answers Abraham about Ishmael:

"And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation," (Genesis 17:20).

Notice the verb tense in this verse.  Not I will bless him, but I have blessed him.  The Lord had already done it.  He had blessed him and already decreed he would be the father of twelve sons.  The Lord had taken care of it already.

How many times do we cry out to the Lord about something, in anguish, in fear, in pain, not realizing that the Lord has already taken care of the very thing we are so distressed about?  Yet the Scriptures are clear to console us that, ". . .it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear," (Isaiah 65:24).

We have a great and mighty God who doesn't just tolerate us,  He doesn't just like us.  He loves us with a love that is infinite and past our understanding.  It is His desire to "give us the Kingdom".  We can have great confidence that He has and will meet our every need "through His riches in glory through Christ Jesus."

Even as our tears are rolling down our cheeks and our lips are speaking out our feeble cry, let us remember He has already done it.  He has already taken care of it. 

He is the Lord of eternity past and eternity future.  He is the Lord of our past and our future, and if He cares enough to count the very hairs of our heads, He surely will provide for us according to His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus as we trust Him to do so.

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