Jayamsih! Welcome to today’s devotion.
A wild man is born
Genesis 16
- God promised Abraham a son. The fulfillment of that promise was supposed to be the end result, but God had a purpose in the plan, which included seeing the promise. God’s plan does not lead to an end, it involves experience as we go through it. Long ago God determined to complete us as His product, He gave us a finished product that fulfills His plan. Abraham and Sarah were tired of waiting. They were growing weary of living in a plan that manifests itself in faith that is unconditional, of grace that demands no proof. They did not like the way of God’s grace. Abraham did not want to express the effect of unconditional love, which is always patience. Patience is the outward manifestation of God’s inner workings. This love is a characteristic. Abraham and Sarah tried to lead God and did not take the way God wanted. Because they lived in their own worries and despair, nothing was being produced to please their vision. When things didn’t always go the way they wanted, they frustrated the plan and the product of their frustration was a wild man, Ishmael (Genesis 16:12).
When we do not enter into patience through grace, we frustrate the plan by our inward deviance. We confuse grace by living in despair of love. If we do not receive grace to live in God’s plan and be God’s purpose as a person, we exchange grace for our ways and begin to act in our own strength in our bodies. We ourselves can never produce what can only be born in heaven.
Today’s reading passage: Joshua 16-18