Desperation can lead to costly mistakes. So, PAUSE.
Desperate moments can lead to costly mistakes. In Rachel’s moment of desperation (Genesis 30), an alternate choice and impatience made her give her maid (Bilhah) to her husband Jacob to bear children.
In Rachel’s “Bilhah moment,” instead of waiting on the Lord to fulfill His promise, she thought the alternative was the perfect solution.
Rachel’s choice and moment became more complex and had far-reaching adverse effects on the entire clan.
Jacob’s first son, Reuben, committed adultery with the same Bilhah his father’s concubine and mother of his brothers, Dan and Naphtali.
Consequently, Reuben lost his birthright as the firstborn son (Genesis 35:22-23) to the sons of Joseph – Ephraim and Manasseh (1 Chronicles 5:1). Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn, his might, the first fruit of his manly strength and vigor) lost the birthright that gave him the preeminence in dignity and the preeminence in power (Genesis 49:3-4) because of a moment of weakness: his bilhah moment.
Waiting on God is an act of faith, so don’t try to help God by taking matters into your own hands. You can’t help Him.
Which help can you give the Alpha and the Omega, the maker of heaven and earth, including you?
Therefore, when you are faced with uncertain choices, the unknown and conflicting directives, wait with steadfast hope for an answer from the One who knows everything. Let the Holy Spirit guide you.
This hope we have in the Lord “never disappoints or deludes or shames us” (Romans 5:5 AMP).
When things don’t make sense and you have no clue about what to do or how to stay calm, just pause. Wait on the Lord.
Excerpts from the book The Bilhah Moment: How to Wait On God in Desperate Times by Belinda Enoma. Copyright © 2009. Published by Dunamis Press. All rights reserved.
Image credit: jovike
It’s a pleasure to find someone who can identify the issues so cealrly.