The Covenant AlternativeSample

Day 4: Don’t Play God’s Role. 

When God speaks, try to understand what your role is in making that promise a reality. Don’t go beyond the bounds of God’s instruction. God’s promise to Abraham was clear and coherent. In Genesis 16:2 NIV, Sarai said to Abram, “…The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” No! God hasn’t kept Sarah from having a baby. The time of maturity for the promise was just a few years away. 

When your days are dark and gloomy, when all hope seems to be lost, remember, if God will listen to the cry of Ishmael in the wilderness, if the sun and moon could stand still for Joshua and his armies to avenge their enemies (Joshua 10:13), then I believe, if you call on God He will listen and come to your rescue. Your circumstances cannot invalidate God’s promises. He is not a man that He should lie. 

Don’t play the part God has not assigned you. Moses could have made it to the Promised Land, but he carried out God’s instruction the wrong way, and he paid a huge price for it. King Saul could have reigned over Israel forever, but he made a burnt offering to God he wasn’t supposed to make and his throne was taken from him. 

1 Kings 13 narrates the story of a prophet who defies God’s instruction of not eating any meal or drinking any water on an assignment he was given. Disobedience to that instruction resulted in him being killed by a lion while on that assignment.

I am not implying that God always responds to disobedience at these extremes, but I'm showing that you are better off doing exactly as He commands. Remember, partial obedience is still disobedience, and delayed obedience is disobedience, as well.