Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14

What do you do when it seems like God is silent? Or maybe it feels like He’s not holding up His end of the bargain. Your heart believes this is His will, you’ve prayed about it, but the pieces just aren’t falling into place. Discouragement and discontent erode the initial peace you had and begs the question, God, why isn’t this working out?

Sarai knows the feeling. God promised her and Abram a son (Genesis 12:7), but years passed and no baby came. In these times of questioning and waiting, we have two options of how to respond – wait on His timing or take matters into our own hands. Unfortunately, Sarai did the latter.

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”(Genesis 16:1-2)

For 10 years, Sarai patiently waited on God. But discouragement lead to discontentment and she decided to take action. Abram took Hagar as his wife and she bore him a son. But he was not the son God would use to build His great nation.

How many times have we done the same thing? We force our timing into God’s, hoping He’s on board. And the funny thing is, God allows our stubborn hearts to wonder down roads He never intended us to travel. He gives us free will, the choice to move on our own accord or sit and wait.

Psalm 27:14 says, Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. I believe God is speaking directly to our tendencies to want what we want when we want it. He acknowledges that waiting is hard, but encourages us to take heart and be patient. It’s as if He’s saying, “Just hold on, I’ve got this.”

Sarai’s choice lead to a great deal of undue stress. Let’s remember that God’s silence may be a reminder to sit still. When pieces don’t fall into place like we thought they would, it may not be His will. He is trustworthy of faithfulness. He kept His word to Sarai and Abram. He’ll keep His word with us, too.