When Abraham tried to hurry the plan of God and make it happen through well-intentioned but misguided human effort, Ishmael was born (you can read the story in Genesis 16). We can often try and hurry God’s plans too. When He promises us something, we can try and manipulate the situation so that it comes about quicker. God told Abraham to do whatever Sarah instructed regarding Ishmael, and she said: ‘Get rid of that slave woman and her son.’ By removing Hagar and Ishmael from their lives, Abraham and Sarah could move forward into God’s plan for them: Isaac. And we also need to deal with our past and do some spring cleaning in our lives. The things that hold us back need to be dealt with so we can move forward into our God-given future. Sometimes our miracle (Isaac) and our mistake (Ishmael) can live together for a while under the same roof. Things can be so good in one area of our lives, yet so bad in another. But there comes a time when God tells us to let things go so that His plans can be fulfilled. We know His plans are better than ours but letting go can still be really challenging. It can even be painful to let go of certain things. But we have to put God first. Our relationship with Him, and following His plans for our lives, should be more important than anything else. When we’re willing to walk away from something we thought we had to have because we love God more, it’s called ‘a sacrifice of praise’ (Hebrews 13:15 NIV). And when we offer it up to God, we position ourselves to experience a new level of His blessing.
