Gods Sabbath

H OW A BRAMAND S ARAI BECAME A BRAHAMAND S ARAH

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Yet despite the clarity of the lessons portrayed, Christians continue their concerted efforts to build God’s kingdom in their own way, while they wonder why He does not work powerfully with them, or bring the gospel commission to its conclusion. Those who today, like Abraham in his method of fathering Ish mael, are devoted to works of the flesh, are far more numerous than those who, like Isaac, are children of faith. When God declared that He would make of Ishmael a great nation, He was making no concessions to the shocked and griev ing patriarch, nor was He acceding to Abraham’s plea that Ish mael might live before Him. Rather, He was prophesying the outcome of the ever-present disposition in human beings to at tempt to build God’s kingdom on their own terms. Throughout history, there have always been greater numbers of professed Christians using their own procedures, in their attempts to build either God’s kingdom or their own, than those who have gone forward trusting totally in God’s ways. Abraham’s mistake in concluding that if his motives were so high and selfless, then his procedures could be nothing else but just and righteous, is still being repeated by thousands of other earnest Christians today. It is the error against which we all need to guard. We must take care never to argue that the end justifies the means. The methods followed are not necessarily correct just because our zeal, devotion to God’s cause, spirit of self-sacrifice, and motives, are all above reproach. The first questions to ask are, Am I doing this in harmony with God’s ways? Is my confidence and trust in myself or in God’s ways? Only if careful examination of our procedures shows that they are in harmony with His ways, and that we have implicit trust in Him, first and foremost, can we then pray for acceptance and entering into His rest.