DIY shows are everywhere. The impossible now seems possible - the deck surrounding the pool...the new kitchen and bathroom...the bedroom makeover...the pergola and patio. But what we don't see is that these DIY shows are run by experts which are backed up by a team of experts. They're the ones off screen doing the real work whilst the hosts are giggling in front of the camera and wondering "Will we get it all finished in time?"
DIY is an attitude that we can have towards God and his promises. We're happy to trust God with the situation in Afghanistan...but take matters into our own hands when it comes to our money. We're happy to trust God with Sudan...but not how I feel about an ex, or my parents or some other relationship. We're happy to trust and pray that the situation is under control in North Korea...but in terms of my own future it's amazing how God's will seems to align itself with mine. What a coincidence...or is it?
Abram's is famous for having great faith...but it wasn't focused 100% of the time...
Genesis 16:1-6 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me." "Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
Rather than relying on God's perfect timing to fulfill his promise Abram and Sarai take matters into their own hands. Their DIY ends up in hurt, misery and alienation. But rather than rub out Abram God remains faithful to his promise...
Genesis 17:3-8 God said to him, "This is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."
God repeats his promise to Abram. The thrust of which can be seen in all the "I wills". When you count them all you realise that it is God who will keep the promise; it God who will do all this; all Abram needs to do is trust and obey. Which he finally does...
Genesis 17:23-27 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.
That must have hurt. But it was a sign that Abraham also cut off his DIY religion and began believing once again that God would keep his promise.
So how about you? Are you willing to cut off your stranglehold on your finances and trust them to God? Are you willing to cut off your grip on sex, relationships, career, the future and let God guide you in these big life decisions? What's to lose? God remained to faithful to Abraham though he did some lame brain things in his life. He came to realise that his DIY God paled in comparison to the real deal. Let us realise the same.
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