Whose voice?

Genesis is one of my favorite books in the Bible. I do a plan where I read through the Bible in a year and I was very happy to be finished with the minor prophets and the book of Revelation. Stories about actual people and their lives are more interesting to me than the symbols of end times, and usually I find more applicable verses. That's just me!

Chapter 16 in Genesis is talking about Abram and Sarai. God had told Abram that He would give Sarai and Abram a son--in fact, that Abram's offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. However, Abram and Sarai were old--in their seventies and eighties, and, problem was, it was taking forever--years and years and years. So Sarai comes up with a plan, and shares it with Abram:

¹ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. ²And Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.


Whenever I listen to a voice that isn't the Lord's, and any time that I take advice from other people without lining it up with scripture and praying about it, I am at risk of making a decision that is not wise. The Lord uses other people to speak to our lives, and to share wisdom, but I have to be sure and match up their words with what the Bible says, and compare it to what God has told me. Abram didn't do that--he listened to Sarai instead of trusting the Lord to do what He said, and hurt and heartache happened because of that.

Just good reminder for me!