“God, I’ve got a great idea! Please bless me in this!” Maybe you’ve prayed this sort of prayer, honestly and sincerely. And maybe your idea is an honest attempt to do something for God, to advance the cause of His Kingdom. What could possibly be wrong with that? Surely, God would want to bless those kinds of efforts, right?

Sarai had such an idea. She knew God had promised Abram that he would have lots of descendants. At the same time, she was sure that she would never be able to have kids, and her biological clock had long since quit ticking. So, she figured she would give God a little help. She would allow Abram to take her servant Hagar as a second wife – after all, Hagar was young enough to have children. And in the back of her mind, Sarai thought she could keep control of the situation, that she could treat Hagar’s child as if he or she were her own. But at no time did any of them seek the Lord’s face in prayer.

But everything got completely out of hand. Hagar became proud that she had become pregnant. Sarai blamed Abram for going along with her plan. And instead of trying to be fair, Abram took the easy way out, allowing Sarai to send Hagar into the desert, perhaps to die. And it’s still the case that whenever we try to change God’s design for marriage – one man and one woman for a lifetime (Genesis 2:24-25) – we always get into trouble.

But there’s a larger lesson to learn here. No matter how good our intentions may be, and no matter how sincere our efforts are, if we’re not playing by God’s rules, if we’re not putting God’s plans into action, we are doomed to failure. So, instead of praying, “God bless my good idea,” we must follow the model Jesus gave us in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).

Now, that kind of prayer requires a lot of faith. Like Sarai and Abram, we may not understand how God’s will can be accomplished unless we get our way. But only if we trust God to accomplish His will in His way and on His schedule can we ever hope for a good result.

Genesis 16:1-6 (NASB)

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.
2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
3 And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.
4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.
5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms; but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.”
6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.