You Can Go Your Own Way, But I Suggest You Don’t

Have you ever known what you were supposed to do, but decided you had a better idea? I have. When we were missionaries, we were living by faith. That means our income was totally based on fundraising, with very little margin for savings or special expenses. There was a time when our family was planning a trip, and we were trying to figure out the logistics between booking affordable flights at the right time and raising the money we needed to buy them. We had the opportunity to buy plane tickets on a great sale and instead of waiting for God’s timing based on His provision, we pushed ahead. We bought the tickets on our credit card. At the time the decision seemed so obvious, even if there was a pit in my stomach. After all it was just plane tickets: we had a plan, we knew what we wanted to do, and we made it happen. Except that decision became part of the next season where we had to work our way out of debt.

We already knew and even taught others to avoid debt like that because more than half of missionaries leave the field for financial reasons. Looking back, I don’t think God was sitting in heaven saying, “Oh, you bought the wrong plane tickets. Now I’m going to punish you.” I think He was teaching us something I’m still learning today: Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. God says, “This is the path,” and we hear, “Go now before it’s too late,” even if major factors don’t align. Sometimes He says, “Trust Me,” and we respond, “Yes, but I have a better plan.” We simply get impatient because God’s timing feels slower than ours. Pastor Dave has taught us many times to be wary of rushing into something, because usually that’s not God’s way. His way is accompanied by a sense of joy, peace and a rightness that comes from waiting for His timing.

I think our panicked push to buy plane tickets is something like what happened with Abraham and Sarah. God had promised Abraham that he would have a son. There was just one problem: Sarah couldn’t have children and Abraham was old. The promise was taking longer than they thought it should, so they decided to help God out. Sarah gave her servant Hagar to Abraham and Ishmael was born (Genesis 16). Paul uses this story in Galatians 4 to describe two different ways of relating to God. Ishmael represents what happens when we try to accomplish through human effort what only God can do. It’s the sense that God promised it, but it’s taking too long, so I’ll make it happen.

Sound familiar? Your version might not look like buying plane tickets. It could be taking a job that sears your conscience, but you’re tired of waiting for the right one. You might be staying in a toxic relationship because you’re afraid of being alone. Perhaps trying to control your children’s future, manipulate a situation, or work yourself to the bone to prove that you are good enough. We can be very good at making things happen. Most of the time the thing we are trying so desperately to produce is something only God can produce.

There is another son in the story. Isaac is the result of God keeping His promise. Humanly speaking, there seemed to be no way. Abraham and Sarah had tried their own way, but God’s promise hadn’t changed. There are times that faith means trusting God enough to act on what He has said. It means finding His promise, praying His promise, and confessing His promise over situations that look impossible. Sometimes faith looks like taking a step, but it can also look like refusing to take a step because God hasn’t told you to move yet. Faith requires trusting in God’s promise and God’s way.

Paul doesn’t just contrast Ishmael and Isaac. He contrasts two ways of relating to God: slavery and freedom, law and grace. The law tells us what God requires, but it cannot give us the power to become what God requires. Grace tells us that through Christ, we have already received God’s acceptance and His promises.

I think back to those plane tickets sometimes, we made the decision and we had to deal with the consequences. We had to climb our way out of the debt we had created. God was gracious enough to teach us through it and provide along the way out. The encouragement is that God is not waiting for us to get everything right before He can work in our lives.

You can go your own way; God will let you. But I suggest you don’t. Not because God is waiting to punish you if you take a wrong turn, but because His way is better. You don’t have to force the promise. When the circumstances around seem impossible, remember Abraham and Sarah as a cautionary tale and inspiration. Remember that your circumstances don’t get the final word, God does.