Trying to Help God Out

The biggest problem that Christians have is the failure to completely trust God. That is a part of our fleshy nature that Paul says we are to "mortify" (Rom. 8:13). We spend too much time trying to figure out why God wants us to do something instead of just trusting Him and obeying the command.

When you and I decide to "help God out", which is really nothing more than saying "I don't fully trust you, God, so I am going to take control", we lose fellowship with God. That is the very first consequence of our actions.

Abram is a wonderful illustration of this point.

”And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” - Genesis 16:16-17:1

Abram was 86 years old when he fathered Ishmael. One verse later, Abram was 99 years old when God spoke to him again. Do you realize what you just read? Abram and Sarai, by choosing to commit consensual adultery and not trust that God would give THEM a child, lost thirteen years of fellowship with God! If you’ve ever taken the time to study the number thirteen in the Bible, you’ll find that it is connected to rebellion.

We Christians try to walk by sight and not by faith which is contrary to 2 Corinthians 5:7. Christians aren't walking in blind faith: God tells us in His Book that He will never forsake us (Heb. 13:5), what the rewards will be (lesson) and when we will get them (1 Cor. 3:13), and that they will last forever (Matt. 6:19-21). Our faith is in what the Bible says based upon provable history.

Imagine if Abram’s first son was Isaac instead of Ishmael. Abram’s firstborn son would have been the promise of God fulfilled before his eyes and he wouldn’t have lost thirteen years of fellowship with God. When we try to “help God out” we lose the joy of discovery and we lose the joy of receiving what God had for us.