"If only Ishmael might live under Your blessing!" — Genesis 17:18
Question: How do you steer an ocean liner?
Answer: Give it time and space to turn. I’ve read that when you turn the wheel on the largest ships they keep going straight for as much as two miles before they finally start to turn. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I do know that you won’t be parallel parking an aircraft carrier in downtown Manhattan.
God is weaning Abraham from the human plan, so that he can move to the Divine plan. Although Ishmael was a valuable human being, and though God had a plan for Ishmael’s life, Isaac, not Ishmael, was the child of promise. When you read the story, you see that Abraham hears God say this, Abraham repeats it, he appears to understand it, but he doesn’t.
Sometimes God tells us something, but we just don’t get it. We think we’re tracking with God, but we’re still lost in our own human plans. God knows that it takes time and space for us to get His plan in our heads. So He meets us where we are and steers us in the direction we are to go.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
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Visit DwightClough.com for more information. Dwight and his wife Kim are active members of Lake City Church in Madison.