Taking Charge

Taking Charge

A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones. Proverbs 14:30

The panic of being alone forever welled up inside Tara.

“Lord, show me what to do!” she said, putting both hands on top of her head.

Immediately the thought came: Trust me. Don’t try to help me.

“Help you? Is that what I’ve been trying to do?”

She eased herself onto the sofa and picked up her Bible from the coffee table. Last month her Sunday school speaker had said something about Abram and Sarai—later renamed Abraham and Sarah—trying to “help” God when the child he had promised them hadn’t been conceived as quickly as they expected. Tara turned to Genesis 16 and settled back to read. Sarai followed a common practice in that ancient culture and gave her Egyptian slave, Hagar, to her husband, Abram, saying they would get their family through her.

However, once Hagar became pregnant, she undoubtedly flaunted her condition and even began to despise Sarai for putting her in that position. Her mistress blamed Abram for the grief, mistreated Hagar, and caused her to run away. As she hid in the desert, an angel approached and spoke encouraging words of the numerous descendants she would have. Then the angel sent her back to the tent of Sarai to await the birth of her son, Ishmael. It would be another thirteen years before the promised son, Isaac, was born. His birth would rekindle the old envy and jealousies (see Genesis 21:1-10).

With her hand on her open Bible, Tara prayed, “Help me to wait for your perfect plan, God. Help me not to run ahead of you.”

She read several more chapters, then crossed the room to select a music CD. As she pulled it from its case, she heard the familiar rumble of her neighbor’s truck returning from the mountains. This time, she didn’t even bother to glance out the window. —SANDRA

Lord, Sarai and Abram thought they had the perfect plan to fulfill their longing for a son. But because they ran ahead of you, they created two Middle Eastern races who still hate each other all these many centuries later. Help me to remember that the effects of my actions ripple out beyond my immediate situation.

Acceptance says, “True, this is my situation at the moment. I’ll look unblinking at the reality of it. But I’ll also open my hands to accept willingly whatever a loving Father sends.” —CATHERINE MARSHALL (1914–1983), WRITER