Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, March 28. Have you ever been in such a hurry to get answers to your prayers that you wanted to help God out?
Abraham and Sarah did, and it was a disaster. Today's podcast teaches how to learn from their mistake and avoid shortcutting the will of God. If someone's building your house, you don't want them to be taking shortcuts. If someone is working on your automobile, you don't want shortcuts. If someone is designing something for you to wear, you don't want shortcuts. In other words, you want it done well, you want it done right, regardless of how long it takes. And most people would look at something in their life, some area in which somebody has taken a shortcut, saved time, saved them money, make them more money at your expense.
Now, we don't like that. But when it comes to getting what we want, when we want it, sometimes we want to take a shortcut. So there are areas in life in which we can save time and money by taking shortcuts. We learn different ways to do things. But there's one area in which there's no such thing as a profitable shortcut, and that is our relationship to God. You just can't have shortcuts with Him. And so what I want to talk about in this message is shortcuts to the will of God. What really and truly motivates us to take shortcuts?
Is it because some of intense desire we have, some need we have, some wrong thinking on our part, or is it pressure from some other people? And you'll hear people say, well, you know, here's what I think. Now look, after all, you've been telling me that God promised you this. Well, you know what? God helps those who helps themselves. Get with the plan, man. Make something happen.
All that sounds rather good. The only problem is we have to decide, well, are we going to wait upon God's direction, God's signal that this is the time, God's method, or are we going to take things in our own hands? Now when we take them in our own hands, rush God ahead of His time and ahead of His plan, ahead of His plan, and a different plan than His, what we have to ask is this. What does it say about us when we do this? Well, one of the things it says about us is this, that we're impatient. That we know that God always does the right thing, the best thing, but we're impatient. Impatient says I'm going to just break loose and do what I want to do to make this happen or to get what I want. That's what impatient says. Impatient says I can't wait any longer. Impatient says I don't need to wait any longer. Impatient says I don't have to wait any longer. Impatient says there must be some other way and I'll find some other way to make this happen because surely, since it's God's plan, and since I don't see anything going on, I don't see God doing anything, can't wait any longer.
Now if you look at that impatience, you have to realize that not only was the issue here impatience, but also doubt. What does it reveal about us when we take things in our own hands and jump ahead of God? That we doubt, we could either doubt that we hurt Him properly and hurt Him correctly.
No question in Abraham's life about that. God not only said it to him, He said it to him more than once. So it says something about our faith in God. It says something about our trust in Him. And so oftentimes it's just pure unbelief.
Well, I know God said it, but well then if He said it, is He trustworthy or is He not? Sometimes the reason is pride. And that is I want what I want, when I want it, the way I want it, and I don't know why I have to wait after all. And sometimes our estimation of ourselves, of our own self-importance or whatever it might be, you might want to question, well, why should I wait? And you look around and say, well, after all, you begin to look at other people, what they have, what they don't have. Sometimes it reveals pride in us. And then selfishness.
You see, what motivates us to do it sometimes, what it reveals about us is that we're selfish. We expect the world to revolve around us. We expect God to plan things to suit us, the way He plans them, what He plans, and the timing. And so why not move ahead? Why hold back? Why not just move ahead and see what God will do? Watch how God operates in your life.
Well, the only problem with that is this. Anytime you and I choose to step out of His plan, His timing, we're out of the will of God. And we make deliberate choices, and these choices are going to cost us sooner or later. And so selfishness. I want it now.
I can't wait. I want this when it may not be God's will for me to have that or this person or that person or this particular job or this situation or this promotion now. So you're going to fight, move, scramble, manipulate circumstances, whatever's necessary to get what you want because you believe you deserve it. You believe that God has told you you're going to have it. And so instead of waiting for God to make it happen, you make it happen.
Never comes out right. So, I think also about how we rationalize. Now think about how Sarah must have thought here. First of all, she wanted God's plan. She wanted to please her husband. She wanted to see the nations of the earth blessed. All those things that God promised she was all for that. And so she began to look around. And what it says, it says that she began to rationalize. And it says, sometimes you and I can rationalize disobedience and it really sounds fantastic. It should even sound good to God.
Why not? And so taking her eyes off God and His promise and Abraham taking his eyes off God and His promise, what did they do? They just decided, well, here's what the world does and after all we can accomplish the same purpose. The issue is having a son. Not necessarily through God. Instead of just having a son. And so they looked at the world around them, made a decision.
And that decision was a terrible mistake. But isn't that the way people think? Isn't that the way we operate oftentimes? We get motivated by the intense desire, neediness on our part, wrong thinking. And then we get impatient and we begin to doubt God's plan what He said. And we get a little selfish and a little prideful. We think, well, I think I can handle that. And so then our thinking gets all messed up.
But one of the worst things is this. It shows about us. One of the things it reveals about us is we have a wrong view of God. You say, well, they believe what God said.
That's right. But they had a wrong view of God. Because what this says by their action is this. I can change God's plan and it'll be all right. It'll be okay with God.
As long as we get the end result, it's okay with God. And I think this oftentimes happens when people who have been in particular vocations a long time and they want to get promoted and they've worked very diligently to get promoted and they think, well, you know, it's my turn. I've worked long enough.
I've slaved hard enough and I deserve it. And what happens? Instead of waiting for God to initiate it His way, they start making decisions, taking the initiative, moving ahead in order to assure that they get the position that they want. And I've heard some people weep over losing out on what they knew and just knew that they deserved and knew in their hearts they deserved in life because they blew the whole thing.
Wanting to get ahead, mistreating people, whatever it might be. So what of the circumstance? What I want you to see is what are the consequences. Now if Abraham and Sarah had sat down and said, all right, let's try this. But let's think about, first of all, let's not only think about you giving me Hagar to be a second wife. Let's think about what all the possibilities are.
If they had sat down and considered, especially these two women, if they had sat down and considered the possibilities of what could happen between them and Abraham and if all three of them had sat down and said, okay, here's what we all agree to do. Now let's think about beyond the act and beyond the birth, then what? What I want you to notice are the consequences because it doesn't make a difference what the situation is. Remember this, the consequences of disobedience are, listen, the acts of God's discipline in our life.
He's going to discipline us. It never pays to get ahead of God and do things our way. It never pays. You say, well, but as long as you get the end result, wait a minute, watch this. And then you decide. So what are the consequences? Now I want you to notice here what happens as a result of this. The first thing that happens, of course, is what's always going to happen when we get ahead of God.
You're going to get disappointed. Things are not going to turn out the way you expect when you step out of God's plan, when you get ahead of Him and you begin to look at the situation and you turn it the way you want it. Now you think about this for a moment. That all sounded real well until Sarah and Abraham were getting ready to go to bed one night and he said, I'm going to bed with Hagar tonight.
Mm-mm, right? Something's not right here. But now that's His second wife. And so giving her to Him, that's His privilege. That's His choice.
And all of a sudden, all of this joy about having a son has turned into a very morbid, shadowy disappointment. That was the shortcut. That's part of the shortcut. And the shortcut always has disappointment. Second thing I want you to notice is this. And that is, whenever you take a shortcut, depending on the situation, there's going to be disharmony. I want you to notice what happens here.
Look at this now. You've got major conflict going on. Here's Abraham, has two women, both of whom he's sleeping with. Sarah loves him. And now more than likely Hagar has a real affection for him.
Now Hagar is bearing his son. And here is Sarah over here, who thought she was going to be happy about this whole situation. And she despises Hagar. And now Hagar's despising her. Here's Abraham in the middle, trying to keep peace between the two of them. And now here's Sarah saying it's your fault. You did it. And so what you have, absolute, total confusion, frustration, anxiety, anger, resentment, hostility, bitterness, separation, division, disharmony, and you name it.
It all looked like such a wonderful idea when they began. Listen carefully. Before you step ahead of whatever God has in mind for you, you count the cost of the possible consequences of disobeying God. You say, but after all, no, count the consequences.
Ask yourself the question honestly and sincerely, because every woman sitting in here and every man and every woman listening and every man, all of this looks so absolutely ridiculous to us. But you know what? It's the very same principle people practice all the time. It just comes in different forms and shapes and sizes. And it comes with different circumstances.
But the principle is the same. Let's go ahead and make things happen. Let's just do it our way. It'll all work out. It'll all be okay. And God understands.
How many times have we ever said that? Well, God will understand. God understands we're not perfect. And after all, this is just another way of accomplishing His will. And after all, the timing may not be exactly God's timing, but disharmony, listen to what happens. So, verse six, Abraham said to Sarah, behold your maids in your power.
You do to her what is good in your sight. So Sarah treated her harshly and she left. She left home.
She's out in the desert now. So now what do you have? So now you only have Abraham and Sarah at home. What do you think Abraham's mind is?
It's on Hagar because Hagar is carrying his son. Now what? So look at all the confusion, frustration, anxiety. You say, well, you just said that. That's right. I'm repeating it on purpose. Bitterness, resentment, hostility, division, divisiveness of all kinds.
Why? Because they decided to step ahead of God's plan and do it their way. One of the things that's very evident in the consequences is that we get denied of God's best. Whenever we step ahead, we're not going to have God's best. Whenever we try to manipulate His plan, we're not going to have God's best.
We take the path that God doesn't want us to take, we're not going to have God's best no matter what. You say, well, but didn't the twenty-first chapter, didn't Sarah finally have a son? Yes. And his name is Isaac and isn't that God, wasn't that God's plan?
Yes. But think about this. Even though the end result of the providential hand of God was achieved and accomplished because Sarah did bear the Son, she was included in the promise. I wonder how often they look back and said, listen to this carefully, if we had only waited, if I just hadn't been impatient, if I just hadn't doubted God. Listen to this. If I'd a, if I'd a, if I'd a, if I'd a. You do not want to live your life and come to the end of your life having to say, oh God, if I'd a, if I'd a just done this, and if I'd a just done that, and if I'd a waited, and if I'd a trusted, and if I'd a, if I'd a, if I'd a. Terrible consequences.
Because they spent all those years in suffering and pain and heartache and all the disharmony and all the rest. But what I want you to see also here is this. When you and I step ahead of Him, we become spiritually defeated. I want you to notice how many different sins were committed in this whole issue.
Think about it for a moment. First of all, the doubt in God. There was fear.
Listen. There was anger. There was adultery.
There was polygamy. There was jealousy. There was resentment. There was mistreatment of agar, selfishness, divisiveness, pride, impatience.
All, we can name a lot of things. Hostility. In other words, the whole attitude got all fouled up. Why?
Because they decided they could take things in their own hands and just as long as the end result was accomplished, that's all that mattered. My friend, listen to me carefully. You step ahead of God, there are terrible consequences. I'm not saying that all the consequences are terrible.
It depends on the situation. But far too often, when there are other people involved, the consequences can become devastating. And sometimes those consequences are not just devastating, hurting you today, but they go on for years and years and years.
Not only that, it can cause you to miss the best thing God had for you in your life. Because you just wouldn't wait for His choice and His timing. I want you to jot down something. So I want you to get your pencil and paper out.
It's just something very short, but I want you to think about it. Because you don't want to doubt God. You don't want to take a wrong plan, your own plan. You don't want to manipulate what God's up to.
You don't want to get off on your timing. So I want you to jot this down. God makes a promise.
Just write that down. God makes a promise. Faith believes it. Faith believes it. Hope anticipates it. We're talking about the promise of God. Faith believes it.
Hope anticipates it. And patience waits quietly for it. You see, God has many promises in His Word. And so often when you and I as His children come to Him seeking guidance and direction or seeking that thing or that person or whatever it might be. And God gives you a very clear promise.
Here's what I'm going to do. Usually He doesn't tell us when. And usually He doesn't tell us all the steps to get there. He just says, here's what I'm going to do. So what happens? He gives you a promise. You believe it. What happens? Hope anticipates it.
Looking forward to it. And that's where the vulnerable moment comes. Am I going to believe Him to the point that even though time goes by and I don't have what I want, what I believe God has promised, am I going to take things into my hands or am I going to do the third thing? Patience quietly waits for it.
Remember this. God hasn't forgotten you. God never forgets a single promise He makes to you. He knows exactly where you are. He is with you in the circumstance in which you're living. He knows exactly what you need. And He says He has an appointed time.
That's what happens here. There was an appointed time. God knew exactly when the right time was for this conception to take place.
He says, so Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. Do you realize that God has appointed times in your life? When He wants to achieve and to accomplish and when He wants you to take a step, what you and I have to do is to live in such a fashion before Him that we are sensitive to the voice of God, sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us, sensitive to His still, small, quiet voice.
This is the way walking in it. A loving God will protect you from making a mistake if you will listen to Him and obey Him. Thank you for listening to part two of Short Cutting the Will of God. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24 seven station. And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
