Making a Way

 

So, you’ve been in a great space for years, everything you put your hand to works out smoothly, you pray, and God answers. His blessings in your life are undeniable. But then, suddenly the mountaintop gives way, and you find yourself in an avalanche of unfortunate circumstances.

Things just aren’t going your way anymore. And God, He is silent, distant. You feel as if you’ve been left abandoned in the wilderness.

 No longer confident about anything, you seem to be in a time of uncertainty.

God had blessed Leah with fertility, but then suddenly, she stopped bearing children. She must have felt the emptiness of rejection. Jacob, her husband, was sure to ostracize her even more than before.

In those days, servants were considered property. Upon her marriage, Laban, Leah’s father had given her Zilpah. Zilpah was her servant, her property. With her womb now closed, Leah came up with a plan to make a way back into Jacob’s favour.

When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing [children], she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as a [secondary] wife. Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a son for Jacob. Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad (good fortune). Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a second son for Jacob. Then Leah said, “I am happy! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher (happy). – Genesis 30:9-13 (AMP)

Leah “gave birth” to two more boys through Zilpah’s open womb. Leah was making a way in her wilderness.

Leah giving her maid to her husband, was making her own way in her time of uncertainty, her wilderness.

Beloved, how many times have you tried making a way in your wilderness for your own personal gain? How did that work out for you? It did not effect change to Leah’s love-starved marriage.

Waiting on God is not easy. Leah felt that she could no longer wait on the God whom she had once trusted. Instead, as a lovelorn wife desperate to escape her predicament, Leah chose to use her maid to regain her status.

“For women will call me happy.”

What a tragic motive. What’s yours? What is motivating you to make your own way and from whom are you seeking validation?

When you take matters into your own hands because you feel that you can no longer wait on God, you, like Leah, step into a state of unbelief.

When you choose to use others to achieve your desires rather than delighting yourself in God and waiting on Him to act, then you are walking in unbelief.

When you find yourself in a situation but choose to make your own way instead of trusting God for a solution, then you are operating in unbelief.

Making a way for yourself cheats you out of experiencing God’s wonderful hand at work in your life. God’s solutions are far better than your own. He says, I am making a way in the wilderness (Isaiah 43:19).

On this spiritual journey, you will go through the wilderness at some point in time and more than likely, several times after that. Even though it feels like abandonment, it’s not, it’s God doing a new thing, but we get so caught up in our own desire for Him to act right away, that our faith is diminished and we don’t perceive it.

What Leah misunderstood and what you must understand, is that your status does not change in the wilderness. Desperation can cause you to seek out your own solutions instead of seeking God first but He has to be your first option.

God isn’t avoiding you. He has not forgotten you. He is working on your behalf, just wait.

Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14 NASB)

Beloved, no matter how long you may have to wait for your circumstances to change, know that your God is working things out in your favour. Avoid the temptation of making a way for yourself, learn to be content in any situation assured that the power of Christ will give you the strength to face all conditions (see Philippians 4:11-13).

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Making a Way” © October 1, 2025