Even when we go off on our own tangents, God is faithful to still fulfill His promises and restore us through repentance.
Abram and Sarai doubted that God would indeed give them a child in their old age; so they took matters into their own hands. Abram had a son by his wife’s slave, Hagar, and gave birth to a son who would become the father of his own great nation. Ishmael, the father of the Islamic nation, added to the multitude of descendants promised to Abram. But, as God also said, he “lives at odds with all his brothers” (verse 16). Historically, the nation of Islam has been pitted against the nation of Israel and continues to be to this day. Despite the warring between the two, which God foreknew, God upheld His promise to Abram to multiply all of his descendants, making them innumerable.
As human beings, we experience times of doubt. We wonder if we heard from God, if that’s what He really said, or if He forgot about us somewhere along the way. It’s important that we hold tightly to our faith during those times, for it’s often then that we can send ourselves on a detour by taking the situation into our own hands and failing to trust God with the outcome. That’s what Abram and Sarai did, and it cost the generations after them tremendous hostility and bloodshed.
God can still work miracles through our mistakes, and He will always be true to His word. If we repent and get ourselves back on track, we’ll get where God intended us to go; we just might have to take a different route than the one He originally planned.