Abraham - Straying from the Path of Faith

Abraham: Straying from the Path of Faith
>>> Read Genesis 16 <<<

GOD WANTS TO reveal His amazing Person and His wonderful ways (the deep things of God) to us:

. . . No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him, but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 1Cor. 2:9, 10

HOWEVER, there is a problem:

The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1Cor. 2:14

The child of God, operating within his own capacity, can only know the things of man. We have seen this truth lived out in the contrasting lives of Abram and Lot. Abram shows us the person who is growing in faith. He is learning about the dangers of the world and the consequences of pursuing life without God – and he continues to respond to God. Lot depicts the worldly believer who lays aside the knowledge of God so that he can enjoy everything the world provides. Lot did not set out to enjoy the evil things of the world when he went to Sodom; he set out to avail himself of its comforts and conveniences. However, it is the place where God is not recognized or honored, and that leads to evil of all sorts. Lot chose to stay in Sodom, thinking he could ignore the wickedness of its residents, but he was swept up into the world’s conflicts (Gen. 14), and tormented by what he saw and heard (2Peter 2:6-8).

Now, in Genesis 16, we see the life of the natural man. We have already seen examples of the natural man taking charge in Abram’s life – every time he went his own way without God’s leading, he was acting in the power of the natural man. The natural man usually leads us right to the world – where we seek resources to solve our difficulties without waiting on God. Whereas the worldly man would immerse himself in the pleasures and ease of the world, the natural man resorts to ‘religion’ (his own best efforts) plus use of the world’s resources to accomplish his purposes. The worldy man and the natural man are equally offensive to God.

Abram is put to the test when his wife suggests that he father a child with the Egyptian handmaid. Did Abram lose confidence in God’s promise? Did he think that God had left him to act on his own in order to fulfill the promise? Not necessarily – Abram’s actions expose the feeble nature of the human soul toward God; it is more natural for us to apply human effort to a situation than it is for us to rest in God alone. We feel a certain sense of security when we take a situation into our own hands and control the outcome (or think we control it). Sarai was seeking this security; it made sense to her. After all, God did not say that Sarai would be the mother of nations – His promise only mentioned Abram.

Sarai had not personally received a revelation from God, she was not involved in building altars with Abram – she just wanted a baby and this sounded like a reasonable solution to her. Abram listened to his wife and took her suggestion (Does this sound familiar to you? Insert the name “Adam” for Abram’s name in that last statement). It is a persistent failing of human nature to reach for something that sounds good, and to fall back on our own efforts, when God has already said He would “give us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him” (2 Pet. 1:3).

Think about what Abram had already learned from God – how God had reinforced and confirmed His promises. Do you see how easily Abram is drawn away from the path of faith, and how effortlessly he could act as though he hadn’t learned a thing from past experience? It is no different for you and I. This is the state of the human heart; human nature is quick to turn away from what is known of God and settle for the quick solution. So, why does God ask us to wait? Waiting on God is a part of the faith-learning process; and it exposes to us our own level of trust in God. We could say to Abram, as Paul said to the Galatians, “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?” (Gal. 4:9)

The path of faith always includes trials and temptations. We cry out to God to give us relief from them, but He has put those things in our path – we need them there in order to develop precious friendship with God. Without them, we would drift away from God, depending upon our own talents, gifts and resourcefulness to get through life. As a Father who is training His children, God will take time to develop patience and endurance in us so that we learn to rest in Him. Abram is not an example of perfect faith; he’s an example of the believer who, while learning to walk by faith, finds himself on the path of human effort, and then gets back onto the path of trusting God. He’s an example of how faith is learned. May we embrace the purposes and ways of God, submitting to Him so we won’t be long on the path of self-effort.
LJ 9/09