Abram must have shared all the promises of God with his wife Sarai. How the promises must have raised hopes in her that she would soon be saved from the curse of barrenness! The last time when God spoke to Abram, He assured him that his own son, and not the slave in his house, would inherit from him. Sarai must have understood that this son would be born by her. Oh how she must have waited! Every month, both of them waited for the sign of pregnancy, but they saw none!
She waited and waited and things continued as before. Possibly a deep sense of failure enveloped her and doubts assailed her. It was at this time that she allowed the Enemy to speak to her heart. He might have said to her, “Did God really say to Abram that he would have a son of his own? Did he hear God properly? Look, both of you have been in this land to which He called you for ten years now. You are just as you came, and your chances of ever having a child are ten years less. You said that God spoke to him and said that he would have a son of his own. You have waited long enough. If that son were to come through you, he would have been here already. God does not love you. He has prevented you from bearing children. Do something to help your husband to have a child. You have this Egyptian maid. Let your husband have her and let that child that God promised come through her. He will be his son, even though it will not be by you, and you would have shown to your husband that you want his happiness and fulfilment at any cost to yourself. Besides, she is your maid and her child will be your child and not hers. Do you not see that you have waited long enough? Are ten years a small matter to you? There is a reason why you must act at once. You should strike while the iron is hot. Abram is now eighty-five years old. If he is going to have the child that you say that God has promised, then it must be now or it will be too late. Act at once.”
The Enemy spoke to Sarai. God was taking His time. He always takes His time. The Enemy is always in a hurry. God’s time had not yet come. The Enemy’s time is always just there. It reminds me of Eden where the Enemy spoke to Eve. He did not speak directly to Adam, and here he did not speak directly to Abram. Satan always chooses whom he can use to inject his thoughts into man. He always chooses those who heard what God said at second-hand; i.e. through another person. He often finds it hard to penetrate the one who clearly heard the Lord.
He always accuses God. Sarai said, “The Lord has prevented me from having children.” To her, she would have had children normally, but for God who stood in the way to block things for her. She was accusing God of evil. She was imputing on God what the devil had done; for it was the devil, and not God, who had made her barren, and it was God who had promised to heal her of her barrenness.
Do you accuse God for your sicknesses and misfortunes? Do you say that He sent them? If you do that, you are listening to and cooperating with the devil. God is the Healer. God has no stock of diseases from which to send you one. God does not make anyone poor. God does not bring misfortune, heart-ache, failures, etc, to anyone. All those things are against Him. He wants the very best for His people.
He wants perfect health for His people. He wants His people to prosper
- spiritually,
- intellectually,
- emotionally and
- physically
He cannot want His people to be sick when He Himself is Perfect Health. He cannot want His people to be poor when all the gold and all the cattle are His. He wants the very best in every way for His. He wants His to be like Him in their
- spirits,
- intellect,
- emotions and
- bodies.
Any condition that will stand in the way of God’s children and cause them not to resemble Him in their total personality is not from God! It is not the perfect will of God. It is a work of His Enemy Satan. It is in His permissive will. So let everyone
get it clear:
- All sicknesses are from Satan.
- All barrenness is from Satan.
- All accidents are from Satan.
- All poverty is from Satan.
- All wars are from Satan.
- All drought is caused by Satan.
- All famine is caused by Satan.
Everything that is bad is from Satan. Look at Job. It was Satan who hit his health, possessions and children. It was God who restored all to him.
It is Satan who deceives God’s children into thinking that God has sent them these “love parcels” of
- cancer,
- liver problems,
- famine,
- etc.
Are these love parcels? Are these blessings? They are not. Does God not say: “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope”? (Jeremiah 29:11). That barrenness cannot be the future and hope that He has planned for you.
When the Enemy first injected the thought into Sarai about God preventing her from having children, she ought to have rejected it. She ought to have pushed the thought away. She ought to have confessed God’s goodness. She ought to have confessed the promise that God made to Abram. She ought to have said, “I will have a child. God has said so. It will be so.” She instead allowed self-pity to envelop her. Stop having that romance with Mr or Miss or Mrs Self-pity. Stop having any frequent visits from him or her. Stop having any occasional visits from him/her. Write at the door of your heart and mind, “This place is out-of-bounds to self-pity.” Self-pity often leads to despair and sin.
God promised to give Abram a son. He was, however, not in a hurry. He is never in a hurry. That son had to come in the fullness of His time, and not before. Sarai ought to have asked the Lord, “Is it not yet time for that child to come?” If she had thus asked, she would have gotten an answer from the Lord which said, “My daughter, I have you in mind. I always have you in mind. You will have the child. I am only waiting for the right moment to give him to you. Do not let your heart be troubled. Do not be afraid. My time has not yet come.” Some years later on the Lord Jesus was to say to Mary His mother, “My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4).
“My time has not yet come, but your time is always here” (John 7:6). It is important that we receive all that God has for us in the fullness of His time. That fullness of His time has been planned for our good.
Excerpt from: Knowing the God of Unparalleled Goodness
