Genesis 16:1-2
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “The LORD has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal.
I’m wondering if Sarai was having her own private conversation before she approached Abram with her proposal.Perhaps these were her thoughts:
‘Abram said God will give him a son… a son from his own loins!
But where is that son?
My womb remains empty!
I have become wrinkly and dried up.
What if…
What if God meant…a son from Abram’s loins…but not from my own womb?
Ahhh…perhaps that’s what God meant.
Has He been waiting for me all along to do something about it?
Hmm… Hagar just came in the room. She is disrupting my thoughts.
Wait a minute… Hagar…
Hagar is a strong, healthy slave. Still young. Able to bear children…
Perhaps I can inherit the son through her…
Yes…I can see clearly now…
Perhaps this is what God wants to happen all along!’
Brrr….
The danger of such thoughts.
Lord, I think if Sarai approached You and asked You what You meant by Your Promise,
You would have made it very clear to her,
“No Sarai, your thinking is wrong. I Am giving you a son…one who will be born from your womb!”
I wish Sarai didn’t force Your Will to happen on her own terms.
So much heartache followed.
Heartache that spans from generation to generation…
She didn’t see all the painful consequences happen in her lifetime.
But just because she didn’t see,
It doesn’t mean that the consequences disappear.
Please help me to run to You always for everything.
I don’t want to do a ‘Sarai’ interpretation.
I want to be like a sheep that’s submissive to Your Will,
Yet have the heart of a lion, a heart that’s filled with strength that comes from knowing You.