Many of us understand YHWH to be “the Master of breakthroughs” because we know that is one of His specialties (2 Samuel 5:20). He seems to love to take impossible situations and clearly show His hand of strength by bringing His people through them. So it doesn’t bother us when we hear His call to challenging situations.
Through a process of Scripture reading, prayer, and keeping in step with His Spirit, we often hear His voice personally. We become convinced that He has some great hope specifically for our future, a situation in which we find ourselves, or a challenging task we begin to recognize as our own. Whatever it is, it is bigger than we are at the moment.
But because we are sure we heard Him, we press on in faith. Even when reason says we should do otherwise. And everyone else does, too. But then the breakthrough comes, and along with it a day of rejoicing.
But sometimes, before that point of breakthrough and subsequent rejoicing, we get impatient. We begin to wonder if YHWH isn’t waiting for us to be a part of the solution more than He let on originally.
So we try to “chip” through to the other side ourselves by dreaming up ways in which we can move things along a little faster. But we only get in the way. We grasp at the straws within our reach in hopes that He will use them to build the castle He has shown us.
Invariably those man-made attempts to solve YHWH’s problem of doing something major in our lives ends up costing us in the long run. In the end, we may receive the promise anyway, but we also often end up with a mess created solely by our impatience.
And we know the mess was not YHWH’s fault:
The blessing of YHWH, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. (Proverbs 10:22 KJV)
No, we didn’t wait for His blessing so we end up with the sorrow that accompanies our own half-baked scheme to make something happen in YHWH’s name. If only we had waited patiently until He came through for us!
But that is fallen human nature, and that is a part of the process we go through to learn how to walk by faith. In our attempt to prematurely grab hold of a promise from YHWH, we end up coming up with something I call “Sarai Solutions.”
We all remember one of the greatest breakthroughs in Biblical history. It has had a profound impact on all our lives. That was the breakthrough of a child for childless Abram and Sarai:
And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. (Genesis 15:2-4 KJV)
The Scriptures tell us that Abram believed YHWH. And so he waited. But nothing happened. He and Sarai must have been painfully aware that they weren’t getting any younger. Perhaps they started focusing on the fact that the promise said the child would come from Abram. Sarai came up with a “solution,” a possibility, to move things along:
And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, YHWH hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. (Genesis 16:2 KJV)
Why did Abram “hearken to the voice of Sarai?” Perhaps because it was the voice of reason. He knew a son had been promised and nothing was apparently happening naturally. (And the promised son didn’t end up arriving for well over a decade! How long are we willing to wait for YHWH?) Maybe Abram even rationalized that perhaps this was YHWH’s way of “leading him” into the fulfillment of the promise made to him.
But really, it was Sarai’s solution to make YHWH’s promise come to pass. She was helping YHWH out, in a sense. And we know the great problems that resulted from that “solution.”
Don’t we do that too sometimes? We find ourselves recognizing by the Spirit a promise in Scripture that applies to us in our situation. So we lay hold of that promise and wait. Sometimes we wait some more. And then we start thinking that maybe we’ve missed something. So we begin looking to see if there isn’t some “answer” to our prayers we have overlooked. We look for signs, and we listen to the voice of reason. On top of that, lots of well-meaning folks have lots of ideas for us. How often do we end up trying to help YHWH “help us” this way?
Like Abram and Sarai, our “helping” out often ends up causing more grief. In the end YHWH will do what He intends to do. And He’ll do it His way. It will always be better than our way. But that doesn’t mean we won’t have to live with the results of our own efforts to do YHWH’s work. Sarai and Abram found that out.
What promise in Scripture has the Spirit led you to lay hold of for yourself? Is is a big one? Is it impossible? All the better. He is the Master of breakthroughs. Are you waiting and watching for His movement to bring it about?
Usually you will have to be part of the solution in that you’ll have to act when the time comes. But until that time comes, are you waiting or are you trying to make it happen?
Has YHWH promised you a spouse? Don’t force marriage with someone just because they are available. Has He promised you companionship? Don’t settle for the wrong friends just because the right ones are nowhere to be seen. Need a car? That one being offered to you “that only needs a little work to get going” might be the one. But it might not be (boy, did I learn that one!) so wait until everything “fits” right.
If you have to work too hard to make things happen, it probably isn’t time for it to happen. That doesn’t mean you won’t have to work hard when the time comes. It’s just that you won’t have to work hard to make it happen. It will be time and you will know it. The Spirit will tell you, if you are in tune with His voice. If you aren’t, then Bible reading is the dial and prayer is the antenna. Now, before things happen, is a great time to find His station!
Sarai Solutions are a siren-call leading to sadness, despair, and conceivably even a shipwrecked faith. If the Spirit has led you somewhere, and you are sure of that leading, then it is a matter of faith and not reason. That requires believing, not scheming. A Sarai Solution is a sorry solution. So set it aside and wait for YHWH to work out His own solution. You’ll be blessed in the end!
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What do you think? Please leave a comment below and let me know! Thank you.
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Copyright 2010 Jim Zboran. All rights reserved.
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I love this Jim! “sorry solutions” who hasn’t tried in the past to “help” YHWH? This is very refreshing to hear and dear to my heart this morning. Thanks for sharing. ~Pheleshia
Thanks Pheleshia
Yes, it is a common experience among us. So glad to hear it is particularly meaningful to you today! Thanks for reading and commenting.
And we can see the consequences “they are written for our example” of Abraham and Sarah, and his other wives not waiting, hatred and killing (cousins) throughout the ages.
Sometimes seems, as life itself has, in my personal experience, been one HUGE wait — waiting the breakthrough, but yet still have an expectancy in my heart. Because I KNOW that He cannot lie and His Word is ALWAYS true – - even if I do not see or experience it!
Blessings Jim, in a way there comes the word of encouragement to me. That YHWH would have let Abram and Sarai go through this experience, so we may all benefit from this teaching. We are indeed a blessed people !
Good point, Ingrid. Thanks for sharing your thought with us
I hear you, Kara! But that expectancy is the key. That demonstrates the faith you express when you write “I KNOW that He cannot lie and His Word is ALWAYS true – – even if I do not see or experience it.” I didn’t include any references to it in the article, but Romans 11, commonly referred to as the “Faith Chapter,” has a lot to say about waiting for the promises of YHWH, even for an entire lifetime. And it was to their credit to have done so:
YHWH’s people walk by faith, not by sight. We understand that He is working out something much larger than ourselves and that we have a place in it. Though our place isn’t always what we would choose at the moment, we know we are only at that place temporarily and we fix our focus on where we are going.
Thanks for sharing your thought Kara. It’s encouraging for us to see your faith in action
Amen, Amy. That’s one of the reasons it is so important to read all the Scriptures, not just post-Yeshua. Besides the fact that it is YHWH’s word, there is an entire gold mine of examples we can apply to our own lives. Thank you, Amy
[...] there that we can use. Abraham was 86 when Ishamael was born. Ishamael, of course, was the “sorry solution” that Sarah and Abraham came up with to “help” YHWH along in delivering on His [...]