Day 3: Submission Brings Blessing
Day 3: Submission Brings Blessing
Reading:
Genesis 16:7-12
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,[a]
for the Lord has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward[b] all his brothers.”
James 4:7-10
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Devotional:
When Hagar fled Sarah's harsh treatment, God's instruction seemed counterintuitive: "Return to your mistress and submit to her authority." Return to the hard place? Submit to those who mistreated you? Yes—because submission brings blessing.
God wasn't sending Hagar back to break her but to break something out of her. The pressure cooker situation was designed to transform, not destroy. The same heat that could destroy something when placed in the right pot produces something wonderful and tender.
God values our submission far beyond our solutions. When we obey, even when it doesn't make sense, God releases promises we cannot count. Hagar received the promise of descendants too numerous to number—but only after she chose obedience over escape.
Identify your pressure cooker situation today. Is God asking you to stay when you want to run? The blessing lies beyond the lesson. Don't run from what God wants to teach you.
Genesis 16:7-12
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,[a]
for the Lord has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward[b] all his brothers.”
James 4:7-10
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Devotional:
When Hagar fled Sarah's harsh treatment, God's instruction seemed counterintuitive: "Return to your mistress and submit to her authority." Return to the hard place? Submit to those who mistreated you? Yes—because submission brings blessing.
God wasn't sending Hagar back to break her but to break something out of her. The pressure cooker situation was designed to transform, not destroy. The same heat that could destroy something when placed in the right pot produces something wonderful and tender.
God values our submission far beyond our solutions. When we obey, even when it doesn't make sense, God releases promises we cannot count. Hagar received the promise of descendants too numerous to number—but only after she chose obedience over escape.
Identify your pressure cooker situation today. Is God asking you to stay when you want to run? The blessing lies beyond the lesson. Don't run from what God wants to teach you.