Today's "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers is a very good lesson to learn in waiting on, and trusting in, the God of the Bible!
Whenever God gives a vision to a saint, He puts him, as it were, in the shadow of His hand, and the saint’s duty is to be still and listen. There is a darkness which comes from excess of light, and then is the time to listen. Genesis 16 is an illustration of listening to good advice when it is dark instead of waiting for God to send the light. When God gives a vision and darkness follows, wait. God will make you in accordance with the vision He has given if you will wait His time. Never try and help God fulfil His word. Abraham went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all self-sufficiency was destroyed; there was no possibility left of relying on commonsense ways. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not of displeasure. Never pump up joy and confidence, but stay upon God (cf. Isaiah 50:10-11).
Have I any confidence in the flesh? Or have I got beyond all confidence in myself and in men and women of God, in books and prayers and ecstasies; and is my confidence placed now in God Himself, not in His blessings? “I am the Almighty God” — El-Shaddai, the Father-Mother God. The one thing for which we are all being disciplined is to know that God is real. As soon as God becomes real, other people become shadows. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever perturb the one who is built on God.
What does Genesis 16 cover? It reveals the mistake of trying to MAKE God's Word happen in OUR timing! All of the major terrorist attacks going on in our world today could have been prevented if Abram had trusted fully and completely in the promises of God for his offspring! He SHOULD have told Sarai NO to her suggestion to take her maid to have a child. That child caused nothing but heartache for Sarah and the world today is STILL dealing with the repercussions of that decision! Make sure that YOU are staying grounded in the Word of God and filled with the Spirit of God so that when God speaks, you will listen with the purpose of obeying, not only WHAT He tells you to do, but WHEN He says to do it! AMEN! Here is Hillsong United with "The Stand":Shalom in Him!
