Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Running ahead of God │ Msg 822

Transcript

Running ahead of God │ Msg 822 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:02
Speaker 1: No doubt a novice would wonder why in the world
0:05
Speaker 1: we would spend time on a life that was dated
0:09
Speaker 1: way back some 4,000 years ago. What in the world
0:15
Speaker 1: could something from a place that ancient have to say
0:20
Speaker 1: to people who live in this high-tech era? Well, the
0:25
Speaker 1: truth is, more than we will ever have time to
0:29
Speaker 1: dig out, The Bible is an inexhaustible storehouse of truth
0:40
Speaker 1: that is not only ageless, but it's timeless. And whether
0:47
Speaker 1: we're dealing with something out of the life of Abraham
0:50
Speaker 1: or the journeys of Paul or some truth tucked away
0:55
Speaker 1: in a letter of the New Testament or an account
0:58
Speaker 1: in the Old Testament, There are always applications that tie
1:04
Speaker 1: into our world. And it is my task as an
1:08
Speaker 1: expositor to help you see what is already relevant right
1:15
Speaker 1: here in the text of scripture. Amazingly, black words on
1:20
Speaker 1: white pages speak in colorful and meaningful ways to all
1:26
Speaker 1: of us. Today, my words are dedicated to all of
1:30
Speaker 1: us who have run ahead of God, and that's everyone
1:34
Speaker 1: in this room. At one time or another, in an
1:38
Speaker 1: impatient moment, we acted in the flesh, and we reacted
1:45
Speaker 1: against the predicament, and we later lived to regret it.
1:52
Speaker 1: This is an account that follows that line of thinking
1:56
Speaker 1: this story from Genesis chapter 16. If you have a Bible,
2:04
Speaker 1: please turn there. I'll read a few excerpts from this chapter.
2:11
Speaker 1: And may we together stand for the reading of God's word.
2:20
Speaker 1: Genesis 16 begins, Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him
2:26
Speaker 1: no children. And she had an Egyptian maid whose name
2:31
Speaker 1: was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, now behold, the
2:37
Speaker 1: Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go into
2:42
Speaker 1: my maid. Perhaps I shall obtain children through her. And
2:48
Speaker 1: Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. After Abram had
2:53
Speaker 1: lived 10 years in the land of Canaan, Abram's wife, Sarah,
2:57
Speaker 1: took Hagar, the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to
3:02
Speaker 1: her husband, Abram, as his wife. He went into Hagar
3:08
Speaker 1: and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived,
3:13
Speaker 1: her mistress was despised in her sight. And Sarai said
3:19
Speaker 1: to Abram, May the wrong done me be upon you.
3:26
Speaker 1: I gave my maid into your arms, but when she
3:28
Speaker 1: saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight.
3:34
Speaker 1: May the Lord judge between you and me. But Abram
3:39
Speaker 1: said to Sarai, Behold, your maid is in your power.
3:44
Speaker 1: Do to her what is good in your sight. So
3:47
Speaker 1: Sarai said, treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.
3:55
Speaker 1: Now the angel of the Lord found her by a
3:57
Speaker 1: spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on
4:01
Speaker 1: the way to Shur. He said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, where
4:10
Speaker 1: have you come from? And where are you going? She said,
4:16
Speaker 1: I am Fleeing from the presence of my mistress, Sarah.
4:22
Speaker 1: Verse 11. The age of the Lord said to her further, behold,
4:27
Speaker 1: you are with child and you shall bear a son.
4:31
Speaker 1: You shall call his name Ishmael. Because the Lord has
4:36
Speaker 1: given heed to your affliction. He will be a wild
4:40
Speaker 1: donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone
4:45
Speaker 1: he and everyone's hand will be against him, and he
4:51
Speaker 1: will live to the east of all his brothers. Verse 15.
4:58
Speaker 1: So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the
5:02
Speaker 1: name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was
5:09
Speaker 1: 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael. You may be seated.
5:19
Speaker 1: I feel like saying after reading that, you think you've
5:27
Speaker 1: got problems. The message today is dedicated to all of
5:36
Speaker 1: us who have run ahead of God and live to
5:40
Speaker 1: regret it. It occurs to me that you may be
5:44
Speaker 1: running behind. And that might explain why you've had such
5:51
Speaker 1: a difficult time finding peace in your soul. The Lord
5:58
Speaker 1: has been tapping you, if you will, on your heart,
6:02
Speaker 1: hoping to get your attention in one way or another,
6:06
Speaker 1: but you've resisted. This would be a great day for
6:10
Speaker 1: you to Release the resistance and turn to Christ as
6:17
Speaker 1: your own Savior and Lord. Perhaps even as I pray,
6:22
Speaker 1: you will do that. May we bow? Through life, our Father,
6:35
Speaker 1: we realize that there are those special occasions when we
6:41
Speaker 1: feel the need for you. And no doubt there are
6:45
Speaker 1: many sitting in this room today who are right there.
6:52
Speaker 1: So I remember them in prayer today. Whatever may be
6:56
Speaker 1: the need, whatever may be the ache, whatever may be
7:02
Speaker 1: the predicament, may it become clear sooner rather than later
7:11
Speaker 1: that you are in the nucleus of the answer. You
7:16
Speaker 1: are God, and we are not. You are God alone,
7:26
Speaker 1: and as was sung for us, our words of exaltation
7:31
Speaker 1: are directed to you. For you alone are worthy of
7:35
Speaker 1: our praise and our worship. We thank you, our Father,
7:43
Speaker 1: for your role in our lives, for the plan in
7:49
Speaker 1: our conception, in our mother's womb, for shaping us within
7:55
Speaker 1: that womb for those nine months to become the person
8:00
Speaker 1: we are. With our personality, set of interests, gifts, strengths,
8:08
Speaker 1: and weaknesses, we are who you designed us to be,
8:13
Speaker 1: but we find ourselves incomplete Without the Savior. So we
8:20
Speaker 1: are thankful today. Our Lord. That Jesus is a friend
8:24
Speaker 1: of sinners. Does not come as the judge of sinners.
8:30
Speaker 1: But comes with arms wide open. Welcoming. With words like.
8:35
Speaker 1: Come to me. All who were weary. Broken hearted. Burdened down.
8:45
Speaker 1: Come to me and I will give you rest. May
8:49
Speaker 1: that rest occur in lives today who hear the truth
8:54
Speaker 1: of your word here as well as in other places
8:58
Speaker 1: around this vast world where the truth is being taught.
9:06
Speaker 1: Speak to us, our Father, as we participate in this
9:10
Speaker 1: extended time of worship in giving you our gifts. May
9:15
Speaker 1: we remember that the Lord Jesus, who though he was
9:19
Speaker 1: eminently rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through
9:26
Speaker 1: his poverty might be enriched. Out of the riches of
9:32
Speaker 1: your provision, we find delight in giving. For the glory
9:38
Speaker 1: of and in the name of Christ, the friend of sinners,
9:44
Speaker 1: we pray. And everyone said, Amen. Life is downright messy.
9:55
Speaker 1: It's just messy. We don't like that. We want it
9:58
Speaker 1: to be tidy and neat. and organized, but it's not.
10:03
Speaker 1: It's full of potholes of predicaments. We can't seem to
10:08
Speaker 1: get ourselves out of. And ultimately, those predicaments, if they're
10:13
Speaker 1: not resolved, impale us on the proverbial horns of a dilemma.
10:21
Speaker 1: Predicaments lead to dilemmas. A predicament occurs, for example, when
10:29
Speaker 1: we are dealing with something embarrassing and troublesome and we
10:35
Speaker 1: cannot find the solution for it. I read this past
10:39
Speaker 1: week that a predicament occurs when an attorney who specializes
10:44
Speaker 1: in medical malpractice lawsuits finds himself in need of major surgery.
10:51
Speaker 1: That's a predicament. A dilemma usually follows predicaments. It's the
11:00
Speaker 1: frustration of having to make a decision between two alternatives
11:06
Speaker 1: when we really want to choose both. But we can't.
11:11
Speaker 1: And in choosing one, we forfeit the freedom to choose
11:16
Speaker 1: the other. It's called having your cake and eating it tuned.
11:21
Speaker 1: That's impossible. We have to decide. Most often we rush
11:28
Speaker 1: into the decision and then we look back and go, why, oh,
11:34
Speaker 1: why did I do that? Let me give you an
11:39
Speaker 1: official definition for a dilemma. It is a situation that
11:45
Speaker 1: requires a choice between two evenly balanced alternatives. It's a
11:55
Speaker 1: situation that requires a choice between two evenly balanced situations, alternatives. Illustration.
12:06
Speaker 1: There can be occupational dilemmas. You have a job here.
12:13
Speaker 1: You are fairly well paid. Your family settled here and
12:19
Speaker 1: you find out that you can make a lot more
12:24
Speaker 1: money in another job. And it's available to you. Problem is,
12:31
Speaker 1: it's in Nome, Alaska. Okay? Now, you've got to decide
12:36
Speaker 1: on whether you want 40 below zero or 110 degree summers.
12:44
Speaker 1: You also have to determine, is it worth it uprooting
12:47
Speaker 1: my family to live where it's Longtime light and longtime
12:51
Speaker 1: dark in a place that we've never lived before or
12:53
Speaker 1: whatever it may be. You've got yourself in a dilemma.
12:57
Speaker 1: There's an academic dilemma. You've started a PhD program. You're
13:01
Speaker 1: excited about it. The problem is you realize you have
13:07
Speaker 1: several small children who need you around the home as
13:11
Speaker 1: much as possible. So what do you do? Do you
13:14
Speaker 1: pursue your degree knowing that if you postpone it, chances
13:19
Speaker 1: are slim you'll go back to it? But you realize
13:24
Speaker 1: you really ought to be at home with the kids,
13:28
Speaker 1: a part of their growing up years. It's a dilemma
13:31
Speaker 1: in the area of academics. You could beat me to
13:36
Speaker 1: this one. There's a romantic dilemma. You're single. You're not
13:41
Speaker 1: getting any younger. You're going with an individual who would
13:45
Speaker 1: love to marry you. But there are some things about
13:49
Speaker 1: him or her that give you pause. Nothing huge. You
13:58
Speaker 1: just are uneasy about the risk of marrying. Should you
14:04
Speaker 1: go ahead? Or do you run the risk of losing
14:08
Speaker 1: that person by putting it off? One more. Financial dilemmas
14:16
Speaker 1: are very common, especially around Christmas time. We have a
14:22
Speaker 1: budget we live with, we have to deal with. It's tight,
14:27
Speaker 1: but it works. But you have found this perfect gift
14:32
Speaker 1: for the one you love so much, and it's way
14:36
Speaker 1: out of your budget. So, hey, there's money available. Do
14:43
Speaker 1: you go there or do you settle back into your
14:52
Speaker 1: crummy budget? What do you do? What do you do?
14:56
Speaker 1: All of us face life dilemmas, especially for the believer.
15:03
Speaker 1: Of all life's dilemmas, none is worse than the spiritual dilemmas.
15:10
Speaker 1: Do we keep waiting on God to work? Or do
15:15
Speaker 1: we move ahead, claiming that great verse, God helps those
15:21
Speaker 1: who help themselves? It's not from the Bible, but everybody
15:25
Speaker 1: quotes it. So maybe we should help ourselves and not
15:30
Speaker 1: wait any longer. After all, I'm pretty bright. I've been
15:33
Speaker 1: around the block. I know how to solve this situation.
15:38
Speaker 1: And in doing so, we run ahead of God. So
15:45
Speaker 1: easy to do. So commonly done. And you know what?
15:52
Speaker 1: You never grow too old to run ahead of God.
15:56
Speaker 1: In fact, I don't believe age helps all that much because,
16:02
Speaker 1: as we will see, of rationalization. We talk ourselves into it.
16:07
Speaker 1: We get better at that the older we get. Now,
16:10
Speaker 1: all of this brings us to a classic example of
16:12
Speaker 1: human impatience when we open our Bibles to Genesis 16.
16:17
Speaker 1: To cut to the chase, this is a chapter about
16:20
Speaker 1: two older people. He's 85. She's 75. They've been married
16:27
Speaker 1: a long time. God has clearly said, and I'll add
16:33
Speaker 1: repeatedly said, I am going to give you and your
16:39
Speaker 1: wife a son. I will bring that son to you.
16:44
Speaker 1: And from that son, there will be a multitude of
16:48
Speaker 1: people in the years to come. And they will form
16:51
Speaker 1: this magnificent, large nation. I know what I'm doing and
16:59
Speaker 1: I promise it will happen. He even has cut a
17:04
Speaker 1: covenant with you. And you know in your head that's
17:07
Speaker 1: what God says. But now you're waiting and waiting and waiting.
17:17
Speaker 1: Your wife isn't getting any younger. Nobody knows that more
17:20
Speaker 1: than she does. A predicament occurs because you've shared this
17:25
Speaker 1: with several friends. And every year they want to know, now,
17:34
Speaker 1: is Sarah pregnant? You've told us it's going to happen.
17:39
Speaker 1: Where's the baby? So the embarrassment grows, this troublesome situation.
17:44
Speaker 1: The dilemma is, what do we do? What do we do? Now,
17:49
Speaker 1: we sit in this comfortable place, and it's so easy
17:51
Speaker 1: to make that decision. Every one of us knows what
17:54
Speaker 1: the script ought to be. We are all aware of it.
17:57
Speaker 1: And we cluck our tongues at this man and his
18:01
Speaker 1: wife who jump in and mess things up. Careful now.
18:06
Speaker 1: Don't get too arrogant. Just remember the message you've made.
18:13
Speaker 1: Here they are, facing this impossible situation. Sarah is tired
18:22
Speaker 1: of waiting. Enough is enough. So she, the wife of Abram,
18:28
Speaker 1: who has borne him no children, the narrative begins. has
18:34
Speaker 1: an Egyptian maid whose name is Hagar. Wow. Look at
18:43
Speaker 1: the beginning and ending of verse two. Sarah said to Abram,
18:49
Speaker 1: last sentence, Abram listened to the voice of Sarah. Now,
18:57
Speaker 1: before you jump to conclusions and get yourself in trouble today,
19:03
Speaker 1: you and I realize that a spouse is often right.
19:09
Speaker 1: One of the benefits of living as two rather than
19:12
Speaker 1: one is you have the benefit of that other person.
19:15
Speaker 1: And you've heard me say with tongue in cheek, it's
19:18
Speaker 1: amazing how much your wife's voice sounds like the Holy Spirit.
19:22
Speaker 1: And she says something, and more often than not, she's right.
19:28
Speaker 1: I hate that, but it's true. They're often right. And so,
19:35
Speaker 1: here she is. Sarah says to Abram, but nobody says
19:41
Speaker 1: anything to God. The absence of prayer is eloquent. There's
19:48
Speaker 1: no seeking of the Lord's mind in any part of
19:51
Speaker 1: chapter 16. None. There's no altar built. There's no discussion
19:59
Speaker 1: with God. There's no admission, Lord, it's getting long and
20:03
Speaker 1: it's getting hard to wait. We wonder if this pleases you.
20:10
Speaker 1: I think it's good the wife had the freedom to
20:11
Speaker 1: suggest something very creative. I think that's good. It says
20:15
Speaker 1: a lot for their marriage. She's thinking outside the box.
20:19
Speaker 1: And before you cluck your tongue and think how wrong
20:22
Speaker 1: they were to do this, you show your ignorance because
20:25
Speaker 1: you don't know the custom. It was a custom in
20:28
Speaker 1: that day, if the wife could not bear a child,
20:32
Speaker 1: nothing worse for a Jewess than being barren, then she
20:36
Speaker 1: could choose her servant and have her husband marry the servant,
20:42
Speaker 1: and the result would be this surrogate parent, and the
20:46
Speaker 1: result would be the child would become hers. Listen to
20:49
Speaker 1: the words of the Bible knowledge commentary. In the legal
20:53
Speaker 1: custom of that day, a barren woman could give her
20:56
Speaker 1: maid to her husband as a wife, and the child
21:00
Speaker 1: born to that union was regarded as the first wife's child.
21:07
Speaker 1: If the husband said to the slave wife, son, you
21:09
Speaker 1: are my son, then he was the adopted son and heir.
21:17
Speaker 1: So Sarai's suggestion was unobjectionable according to the customs of
21:24
Speaker 1: the time. But I should add, God often repudiates social customs.
21:36
Speaker 1: Some things today are not against the law. You're not
21:40
Speaker 1: put under arrest because you do something unusual. It's not
21:44
Speaker 1: objectionable in the eyes of the law, but you in
21:49
Speaker 1: your heart know, and you know from your study of
21:52
Speaker 1: the scriptures, this is not what I ought to be doing.
21:55
Speaker 1: There's no directive at all. There's not even a hint
21:58
Speaker 1: from God that he's in the plan. It's... It's inexcusable
22:06
Speaker 1: that Abram would entertain such a scheme. Even though she's
22:11
Speaker 1: very polite. Look how she puts it. Please, go into
22:16
Speaker 1: my maid, perhaps. We don't know. But please, let's do this.
22:26
Speaker 1: By the way, it reminds me of a conversation that
22:29
Speaker 1: another husband and wife had in the scriptures. when she
22:33
Speaker 1: says to him, you need to curse God and die.
22:37
Speaker 1: In the New Living Translation, these words appear. His wife
22:41
Speaker 1: said to him, are you still trying to maintain your integrity?
22:45
Speaker 1: Curse God and die. But Job replied, you talk like
22:50
Speaker 1: a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from
22:54
Speaker 1: the hand of God and never anything bad? So in
22:59
Speaker 1: all this, Job said nothing wrong. What a difference between
23:03
Speaker 1: the two husbands. Job answered, you speak as one of
23:08
Speaker 1: the foolish women. How can I possibly do such a thing?
23:15
Speaker 1: God is in all of this. Understand her husband was
23:18
Speaker 1: covered with sores. They had just stood beside 10 fresh
23:22
Speaker 1: graves of all 10 of their young adult children who
23:27
Speaker 1: had died. They're bankrupt. They've lost everything. And she says
23:34
Speaker 1: to him, oh, honey, I hate to see you suffer
23:38
Speaker 1: like this. Just curse God and die. I think she
23:43
Speaker 1: meant well. I don't think she was of the devil.
23:48
Speaker 1: I do think she was foolish, however. And Job says so.
23:53
Speaker 1: This is not from the Lord. I've got no green
23:56
Speaker 1: light along those lines. Now then, Abram could have handled
24:07
Speaker 1: it like this. You know, sweetheart, you get an A
24:11
Speaker 1: for creativity, but real low marks in theology. I appreciate
24:16
Speaker 1: your thinking creatively. And even though it's appropriate for us
24:22
Speaker 1: to do this in the custom of our day, I
24:25
Speaker 1: know it's not right because the Lord has said, you're
24:27
Speaker 1: the one that's supposed to have the baby. You miss it.
24:33
Speaker 1: I understand how that could work physically, but you and
24:37
Speaker 1: I know that's running ahead of God. But understand when
24:42
Speaker 1: you are in a predicament that has led to this
24:45
Speaker 1: kind of situation, you don't think clearly. Unless you are
24:51
Speaker 1: very strong of heart, the one with whom you are
24:55
Speaker 1: most closely related will gain a hearing. And it takes
25:00
Speaker 1: strong character to say no if it's wrong. But Abram
25:07
Speaker 1: doesn't do that. His response? Okay. Okay. Why not? Now
25:19
Speaker 1: look at the rationalization that no doubt occurred. Abram married her.
25:24
Speaker 1: He went into Hagar. She conceived. Supper table that night.
25:29
Speaker 1: Isn't it amazing, honey, how the Lord is pleased with
25:34
Speaker 1: our decision? I mean, he would have never let her
25:37
Speaker 1: conceive if he hadn't been in this. Kind of like Jonah.
25:43
Speaker 1: Look at this. A ship available for Tarshish. How great.
25:49
Speaker 1: I'm going to buy that. If the Lord weren't in that,
25:51
Speaker 1: there wouldn't be a ticket or that ship would be full.
25:54
Speaker 1: Wouldn't be any room for me. Oh, we all rationalize.
25:57
Speaker 1: I looked up the definition of rationalization. Get this. To
26:01
Speaker 1: devise a self-satisfying but incorrect reason for one's behavior. This
26:09
Speaker 1: is self-satisfying, but it's incorrect. The consequences... Kick right in.
26:21
Speaker 1: It's not long after Hagar has taken a pregnancy test,
26:26
Speaker 1: discovered that she's in fact carrying the baby. It says
26:30
Speaker 1: when she saw that she had conceived, end of verse 4,
26:34
Speaker 1: her mistress was despised in her sight. Just despised. Strong word,
26:45
Speaker 1: isn't it? I don't know exactly how it came out,
26:49
Speaker 1: but no doubt she was very proud of her pregnancy.
26:51
Speaker 1: And she looked upon the older woman not being able
26:54
Speaker 1: to get pregnant. And it was a little tit for
26:57
Speaker 1: tat there. And it got ugly really quick. By the way,
27:01
Speaker 1: when this activity is prompted by the flesh and gains
27:06
Speaker 1: the upper hand, life doesn't just get messy. It gets ugly. Ugly.
27:12
Speaker 1: This is an ugly scene. Hagar despises Sarah. When you
27:16
Speaker 1: read on, Sarah resents Hagar, the maid. And look at this.
27:21
Speaker 1: Sarah says to Abram, may the wrong done me be
27:26
Speaker 1: upon you. All he had done was go, okay. May
27:32
Speaker 1: the wrong be upon you. I gave my maid into
27:35
Speaker 1: your arms. When she saw that she had conceived, I
27:38
Speaker 1: was despised in her sight. Now she brings the Lord
27:42
Speaker 1: into it. May the Lord whom we serve judge you
27:48
Speaker 1: for doing that. Don't elbow too hard there, men, women
27:53
Speaker 1: who are married. Careful. It's a long, cold night ahead
27:57
Speaker 1: of you tonight if you start doing that. Abram said
28:00
Speaker 1: to Sarah, behold, this sounds just like a man, behold,
28:05
Speaker 1: your maid is in your power. Do to her what
28:08
Speaker 1: is good in your sight. Oh, you know what, Sarah?
28:12
Speaker 1: You came up with the idea. You made your own bed.
28:16
Speaker 1: Deal with it. I'm busy watching a ball game this afternoon.
28:21
Speaker 1: You can take care of it. I've done my part.
28:24
Speaker 1: Now let's see what you're going to do. Great time
28:29
Speaker 1: to remember Galatians 6-7. Put it in the margin of
28:32
Speaker 1: your Bible. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For
28:37
Speaker 1: whatever a man sows, this, what? He will also reap.
28:44
Speaker 1: The NLT says you will always harvest what you plant.
28:49
Speaker 1: So let me tell you, on the front end or
28:54
Speaker 1: in the middle of the mess you're in, whatever it
28:57
Speaker 1: may be, you will harvest what you plant. It won't
29:02
Speaker 1: be right away, but it will be there. It'll be
29:06
Speaker 1: waiting for you around the corner. Maybe a matter of days,
29:10
Speaker 1: maybe a matter of weeks. One of the prophets says,
29:13
Speaker 1: we sow the wind, we reap the whirlwind. This is
29:18
Speaker 1: whirlwind stuff. Suddenly this home that was once harmonious and
29:24
Speaker 1: willing to trust God and wait for him is now
29:29
Speaker 1: harvesting what they planted. The harmony is gone. Can you
29:35
Speaker 1: even imagine supper table that evening? The distance between the
29:39
Speaker 1: two The resentment of each other. If not harsh words,
29:46
Speaker 1: at least harsh thoughts toward the other. Some of you
29:50
Speaker 1: live your life and your marriage like that. neither willing
29:56
Speaker 1: to take responsibility for your wrong in whatever the decision was.
30:01
Speaker 1: You're just ready for another chance to blame your partner.
30:04
Speaker 1: What a terrible way to live. And so Hagar can't
30:12
Speaker 1: take it. End of verse 6, she fled from the wife, Sarah.
30:21
Speaker 1: She took off. In verses 7 through 14, we have
30:27
Speaker 1: the first account of God's dealing with an abused woman.
30:32
Speaker 1: We have the first account in scripture of God dealing
30:35
Speaker 1: with a single parent. We could call her that. I
30:39
Speaker 1: know she's married by custom, but you know what I
30:41
Speaker 1: mean by that. Here's Hagar disillusioned in many ways, if
30:48
Speaker 1: you will, an innocent victim. She didn't ask for this.
30:53
Speaker 1: She was busy doing her work, and the next thing
30:55
Speaker 1: she knew, she's wearing a wedding ring and marching off
30:58
Speaker 1: to a honeymoon with this 85-year-old guy. She's okay. If
31:03
Speaker 1: that's what my mistress wants, then I must do it.
31:10
Speaker 1: And now, look at the mess in her life. She
31:14
Speaker 1: fled from her presence. Where'd she go? She went anywhere.
31:22
Speaker 1: When you're running from abuse, the destination isn't all that important.
31:27
Speaker 1: The escape is. Cynthia and I have a very dear
31:33
Speaker 1: friend whose daughter married about a year ago against the
31:37
Speaker 1: wishes of the parents. Yep, you guessed it. Abuse has occurred,
31:41
Speaker 1: and now she's living in the backwash of the abuse.
31:46
Speaker 1: She's gone back once, the abuse returned, and now she's escaped.
31:53
Speaker 1: Where does she go? Should he stalk her? He could
32:00
Speaker 1: kill her. It's terrible. I mean, the anger that Hagar
32:07
Speaker 1: ran from is palpable. It's terrible. So anywhere is better
32:12
Speaker 1: than there. So she finds herself by a spring in
32:15
Speaker 1: the wilderness and she looks up and how merciful and
32:20
Speaker 1: gracious of our God to meet her The angel of
32:23
Speaker 1: the Lord, verse 7, found her by a spring of
32:27
Speaker 1: water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way
32:30
Speaker 1: to Shur. May I say to you who are escaping
32:33
Speaker 1: for your life, you will never get out of the
32:37
Speaker 1: sight of your God. He will be there for you.
32:44
Speaker 1: And who knows who he may use to help you
32:47
Speaker 1: as you recover and go through this time of rescue.
32:51
Speaker 1: My heart goes out to you. And so the angel
32:55
Speaker 1: of the Lord says to her, Hagar, Sarah's maid, where
32:59
Speaker 1: have you come from and where are you going? You
33:02
Speaker 1: understand angels are not omniscient. He doesn't know the whole story.
33:08
Speaker 1: He just finds her there. He's sent by the Lord
33:09
Speaker 1: to help her. And she said, I'm fleeing from the
33:14
Speaker 1: presence of my mistress, Sarah. And the angel of the
33:16
Speaker 1: Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit
33:19
Speaker 1: yourself to her authority. The whole point is implied. I'll
33:23
Speaker 1: watch over you. I know you. I know what I'm doing.
33:27
Speaker 1: In this case, I believe this is best. Moreover, verse 10,
33:32
Speaker 1: look closely. The angel of the Lord said to her,
33:36
Speaker 1: I will mark that. So the angel said what he
33:39
Speaker 1: will do. I will multiply greatly your descendants so that
33:45
Speaker 1: they shall be too many to count. The angel of
33:50
Speaker 1: the Lord said to her, behold, you're with child. You
33:52
Speaker 1: shall multiply. So now it's about her. You will bear
33:55
Speaker 1: a son. And you will call his name Ishmael. The
34:01
Speaker 1: Hebrew word means God hears. Because the Lord has given
34:07
Speaker 1: heed to your affliction. Name him Ishmael. And now having
34:12
Speaker 1: said I will and you shall. He talks about the birth.
34:16
Speaker 1: The boy. He will. Look at this. First reference to
34:22
Speaker 1: the Arab-Israeli conflict comes even before the birth of Ishmael.
34:29
Speaker 1: He will be a wild donkey of a man. His
34:32
Speaker 1: hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him.
34:37
Speaker 1: It's the picture of aggression, antagonism, assertiveness, a wild nature.
34:44
Speaker 1: Wherever he goes, there will be conflict, conflict, conflict. You
34:49
Speaker 1: will never be able to bring shalom in the midst
34:52
Speaker 1: of this conflict. We will try. We will work at it.
34:56
Speaker 1: It will never happen until the Lord himself becomes king
35:00
Speaker 1: of kings and Lord of lords. And you will give birth.
35:05
Speaker 1: She called the name of the Lord who spoke to her.
35:08
Speaker 1: You are a God who sees. There's a lot of
35:12
Speaker 1: relief in that. You've seen me. You know I'm here.
35:17
Speaker 1: The implication is you care. You care for me. I'm
35:23
Speaker 1: so grateful. But she said, have I even remained alive
35:28
Speaker 1: after seeing him? She is so grateful to just have
35:31
Speaker 1: breath in her lungs. She didn't know how she was
35:33
Speaker 1: going to survive. And she's heard from the Lord, and
35:39
Speaker 1: she's grateful. And so she names the place. Look at
35:41
Speaker 1: the strange name. Verse 14, Bir Lahairoi. That means a
35:50
Speaker 1: well of living, the living one who sees me. A
35:54
Speaker 1: well of the living one who sees me. I'm going
35:56
Speaker 1: to name this stream a well of the living one
35:59
Speaker 1: who sees me. I'm going to place a name on
36:01
Speaker 1: it because God has not only heard from my lips
36:06
Speaker 1: and I'm to name my son Ishmael, God hears. I
36:09
Speaker 1: will never forget this place where God met with me
36:13
Speaker 1: and saw me in my need. It is between Kadesh
36:17
Speaker 1: and Berid. So the chapter skips ahead quickly for almost
36:23
Speaker 1: nine months to term, and we read in verse 15,
36:26
Speaker 1: she bore Abram a son. And Abram named the boy Ishmael.
36:33
Speaker 1: Abram's 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.
36:41
Speaker 1: And the conflict Ishmael brought to that home was constant, constant.
36:50
Speaker 1: We won't go there. We'll go there later on. But
36:52
Speaker 1: for right now, I'm intrigued by his age. By the
36:56
Speaker 1: time the boy is born, Abram is 86. Now they
37:01
Speaker 1: hurried up with the plan so that they could solve
37:05
Speaker 1: the problem. They're tired of waiting. They ran ahead of
37:08
Speaker 1: God and now Abram's 86. Let's see about the Lord's
37:13
Speaker 1: response at all this. Let's see when he brought Isaac.
37:16
Speaker 1: Turn to 21. Chapter 21, verse 5. Let you do
37:23
Speaker 1: a little math. 21.5, same book, Genesis 21.5. Now, Abram
37:31
Speaker 1: was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born
37:36
Speaker 1: to him. Isaac, there's the promised son. That's the promised seed.
37:44
Speaker 1: What interests me is the age. He's 86 when Ishmael
37:49
Speaker 1: is born. He's 100 when Isaac is born. You know
37:56
Speaker 1: what I get from that? Here's a principle I hope
37:58
Speaker 1: you'll never forget. Our running ahead does not hurry up
38:03
Speaker 1: our God. I'm not ready. It's not time. You have
38:10
Speaker 1: so much more to learn. You're going to trust me
38:14
Speaker 1: and I'm not going to explain why. And the reason
38:19
Speaker 1: I make such an issue out of it is because
38:21
Speaker 1: that is exactly where many of you find yourself right now.
38:26
Speaker 1: And you want an answer. And you are praying that
38:31
Speaker 1: great American prayer. Lord, hurry up. I want to know now.
38:39
Speaker 1: I've waited, my goodness, eight weeks or eight months or
38:46
Speaker 1: eight years. He knows that. Your great temptation will be
38:53
Speaker 1: to rush ahead and get this thing solved. Why? Because
38:57
Speaker 1: you want relief. You want this thing resolved. You're dealing
39:05
Speaker 1: with this dilemma and you're tired of it. I dedicate
39:12
Speaker 1: my closing words to you who are right there. And
39:15
Speaker 1: there's a lot of you I know. Following the first
39:18
Speaker 1: morning service, there was a line of people, and almost
39:21
Speaker 1: every one of them said the same thing. I needed
39:24
Speaker 1: to hear that. Each one is waiting for something else.
39:29
Speaker 1: Each one. Okay. Until God gives the green light and
39:35
Speaker 1: it's obviously his will that you make this decision and
39:39
Speaker 1: you move ahead, what is my counsel? I've got the
39:42
Speaker 1: word wait written out here on our outline, W-A-I-T. Let
39:47
Speaker 1: me give you a word for each one of those letters. W,
39:52
Speaker 1: walk a little slower. As Cynthia often says to me
39:58
Speaker 1: when I'm hot to trot, just cool your jets. Just
40:02
Speaker 1: slow down. When you find yourself saying, you know, we've
40:08
Speaker 1: got to do this. We've got to get an answer
40:11
Speaker 1: for this. Hold on. Hold on. Hold it. Hold it. Wait.
40:15
Speaker 1: You're not going off a cliff. You're beginning to panic.
40:20
Speaker 1: Walk a little slower. Take a deep breath. Deliberately restrain
40:25
Speaker 1: yourself from such a fast pace and the panic of
40:29
Speaker 1: a fast pace. Slow down. Walk a little slower. The
40:38
Speaker 1: A represents ask. Ask God for increased patience. I know
40:46
Speaker 1: you prayed, and I know you've begun to do some
40:49
Speaker 1: of that, but I'm talking about really and intensely seeking
40:54
Speaker 1: God's mind. Lord, here's where I find myself, as if
40:58
Speaker 1: he didn't know. But sometimes it's therapeutic to tell him.
41:02
Speaker 1: So you explain it, you describe to him your worry,
41:06
Speaker 1: your fears, some things that are on hold because the
41:11
Speaker 1: decision hasn't been made. And you say, Lord, right now,
41:15
Speaker 1: I do need you to give me patience. Help me.
41:22
Speaker 1: Help me with my self-control. I need the wisdom of waiting.
41:28
Speaker 1: So I ask for that. The I is the word imagine.
41:34
Speaker 1: Imagine the worst case scenario. Instead of running ahead, stop
41:41
Speaker 1: and think ahead. What's the worst case scenario? in their case,
41:45
Speaker 1: Abram and Sarai, disharmony in our own home. A regret
41:50
Speaker 1: that will dog our steps for the rest of our lives.
41:54
Speaker 1: The birth of a child that will bring disharmony to
41:58
Speaker 1: our home and even to our only son that will
42:01
Speaker 1: be born later. Imagine the worst case scenario, refuse to
42:07
Speaker 1: rationalize and justify your decision. There is no decision that
42:12
Speaker 1: you can't justify. We are very creative people. And may
42:16
Speaker 1: I say this? Age doesn't help. You just get better
42:20
Speaker 1: at it. You get a little more creative as you
42:24
Speaker 1: live a little longer. So imagine the worst case scenario.
42:28
Speaker 1: If you did go ahead and marry her, what's the
42:31
Speaker 1: worst scenario? It's not hard to figure out. If you
42:36
Speaker 1: did jump ahead and break your budget and you bought
42:38
Speaker 1: this that's more than you can afford, go there and
42:43
Speaker 1: think it through. And the fourth, I think, is worth
42:49
Speaker 1: all the other three. It's the T, think. Think of
42:53
Speaker 1: others who will be impacted by your decision. There's always
42:57
Speaker 1: collateral damage when we run ahead. You have small children
43:03
Speaker 1: you'll be bringing with you to Nome, Alaska on that job.
43:09
Speaker 1: Or you jump into a partnership because you're financially strapped
43:12
Speaker 1: and you ignore the fact that your partner is a
43:15
Speaker 1: lost individual. Now you're partnering with one who doesn't know
43:19
Speaker 1: the Lord and you have just begun to experience misery.
43:24
Speaker 1: Right now everything's great because he too wants a partner.
43:28
Speaker 1: Think of others who will be impacted unfairly by your decision.
43:34
Speaker 1: The The tragedy of running ahead always revolves around the
43:41
Speaker 1: innocent individuals. We are all members of a family, and
43:47
Speaker 1: our decision affects the members of our family. We are
43:51
Speaker 1: all surrounded by friends. Our decision affects the friends and
43:56
Speaker 1: our friendships. We're all a part of a church and
44:00
Speaker 1: a decision that that results in your running ahead and
44:03
Speaker 1: lead you to a dreadful conclusion could impact this church.
44:08
Speaker 1: Think about that. I mean, Hagar seriously found herself in
44:16
Speaker 1: a situation that she didn't volunteer for. I've appreciated the
44:25
Speaker 1: words of V. Raymond Edmond in a little book titled
44:29
Speaker 1: The Disciplines I don't know how many times I've read it.
44:34
Speaker 1: I pulled it off the shelf of my study this
44:36
Speaker 1: past week and turned to the discipline of delay. Listen
44:42
Speaker 1: to Edmund, former president of Wheaton College. We have been
44:49
Speaker 1: told that God's disappointments are his appointments, that God's delays
44:56
Speaker 1: are not his denials. But do we believe what we hear?
45:04
Speaker 1: Delay with its apparent destruction of all hope can be
45:08
Speaker 1: a deep discipline to the soul that would serve the
45:11
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus. We live in restless, impatient days. We have
45:17
Speaker 1: little time for preparation and less for meditation. and worship.
45:21
Speaker 1: We feel we must be active, energetic, enthusiastic, and humanly effective.
45:26
Speaker 1: And we can't understand what inactivity, weakness, weariness, and seeming
45:31
Speaker 1: uselessness should become our lot. I was thinking about this.
45:36
Speaker 1: We live in such a fast time. I get back
45:38
Speaker 1: to it in a moment. We like things fast. You know,
45:42
Speaker 1: we like our table at the restaurant fast. We don't
45:46
Speaker 1: want to wait for a table. We like getting on
45:49
Speaker 1: bullet trains. I rode on one over 200 miles an
45:53
Speaker 1: hour across China. I'm thinking, this is cool, until I thought,
45:58
Speaker 1: what if something's on the track up there a little
46:01
Speaker 1: further along? Why do I like the speed? We like
46:04
Speaker 1: fast cars. We like fast foods. We like fast meals. Why?
46:11
Speaker 1: Because we don't want to wait. We don't want to wait.
46:17
Speaker 1: As one man put it, we don't want to miss
46:18
Speaker 1: one panel of a revolving door. I find that true
46:23
Speaker 1: sometimes in my life. I hurry up to get in
46:25
Speaker 1: the one little panel. I could have waited for the
46:28
Speaker 1: next one. It's going to be right there, you know.
46:31
Speaker 1: So that's his point here. The discipline of delay, he continues,
46:36
Speaker 1: is written large in the life of God's people, as
46:40
Speaker 1: we could observe in Abraham's long-waiting life. for the son
46:44
Speaker 1: of promise, and then he rushes many years ahead. Hudson
46:50
Speaker 1: Taylor knew the testing that tempers the steel of the soul,
46:56
Speaker 1: invalided home at 29 after six years of intensive service
47:03
Speaker 1: in China. He settled with his little family in the
47:07
Speaker 1: east end of London. Outside interest lessened, friends began to forget.
47:15
Speaker 1: And five long hidden years were spent in the dreary
47:21
Speaker 1: streets of a poor part of London, where the tailors
47:26
Speaker 1: were shut up to prayer and patience. From the record
47:33
Speaker 1: of those years it has been written, quote, yet without
47:37
Speaker 1: those hidden years, with all their growth and testing, How
47:41
Speaker 1: could the vision and enthusiasm of youth been matured for
47:44
Speaker 1: the leadership that was to be? Faith, faithfulness, devotion, self-sacrifice,
47:51
Speaker 1: unremitting labor, patient, persevering prayer became their portion. But more,
48:00
Speaker 1: there is the deep, prolonged exercise of a soul following
48:06
Speaker 1: hard after God. Listen to these words. The gradual strengthening
48:13
Speaker 1: here of a man called to walk by faith, not
48:17
Speaker 1: by sight. As the years of obscurity progressed, prayer was
48:24
Speaker 1: the only way by which the burdened heart could obtain
48:29
Speaker 1: any relief. And when the discipline was complete, there emerged
48:35
Speaker 1: the China Inland Mission. At first, only a tiny root,
48:41
Speaker 1: but destined of God to fill the land of China
48:46
Speaker 1: with gospel fruit. I want to speak to all of
48:54
Speaker 1: you very directly, you who are on the cusp of
48:59
Speaker 1: making a stupid decision by rushing. Stop. Consider the sovereign
49:06
Speaker 1: hand of God He doesn't need your help. Heaven is
49:14
Speaker 1: not waiting for you to act. God's able to move
49:18
Speaker 1: you when he's ready. Edmund ends with these words. In
49:23
Speaker 1: every life, there's a pause that is better than onward rush,
49:29
Speaker 1: better than hewing or mightiest doing. Tis the standing still
49:35
Speaker 1: at sovereign will. There's a hush that is better Than
49:40
Speaker 1: ardent speech. Better than sighing. Or wilderness crying. Tis the
49:45
Speaker 1: being still. At sovereign will. The pause and the hush.
49:52
Speaker 1: Sing a double song. In unison low. And for all
49:56
Speaker 1: time long. Oh human soul. God's working plan. Goes on.
50:01
Speaker 1: Nor needs the aid of man. Stand still. And see.
50:05
Speaker 1: Be still. And no. Let's bow together. I realize I'm
50:25
Speaker 1: speaking today to very efficient people. You even enjoy fast decisions.
50:32
Speaker 1: You live your life in the fast lane. After all,
50:36
Speaker 1: it's paid off for you. Just look at what you've built.
50:40
Speaker 1: But now you have come to that impasse. And you
50:45
Speaker 1: have to wait and wait and wait and wait. Walk
50:54
Speaker 1: a little slower. Ask for increased patience. In the process, imagine.
51:07
Speaker 1: Imagine the results of rushing ahead, the collateral damage that
51:16
Speaker 1: will come should you race on and innocent people get hurt.
51:22
Speaker 1: Take time to think about that. Our Father, what will
51:29
Speaker 1: it take to slow us down to the point where
51:35
Speaker 1: we again listen for your still small voice It's amazing,
51:41
Speaker 1: you never scream your will. It's always very quiet. It's unobtrusive.
51:52
Speaker 1: Sometime coming in the middle of the night when sleep
51:55
Speaker 1: is hard and occasionally in the very early morning dawn
52:00
Speaker 1: when no one else is awake. Sometime over a long walk.
52:07
Speaker 1: Occasionally When we come to you with our Bibles open
52:12
Speaker 1: and we ask you to speak. And you speak. Forgive
52:21
Speaker 1: us for the rush, the habit of having to hurry
52:29
Speaker 1: everything along. Teach us the value of patience. Not only
52:36
Speaker 1: was Rome not built in a day, your will wasn't
52:40
Speaker 1: ever carried out in a hurried moment. You have a plan.
52:48
Speaker 1: And may we remember that you don't adjust your pace
52:51
Speaker 1: to ours. On the contrary, we are to adjust ours
52:57
Speaker 1: to yours. Give all of us what we do not
53:02
Speaker 1: have in ourselves, and that is a A restraint. A
53:11
Speaker 1: willingness to wait. And give us a confidence that in
53:15
Speaker 1: the waiting, you are not absent, but you are at work.
53:21
Speaker 1: Deep within us. Changing us. Preparing us for what is ahead.
53:28
Speaker 1: I remember those on the cusp of a decision and
53:32
Speaker 1: asked that you would give them patience. They wait for
53:38
Speaker 1: your direction. Give them the strength to shun the voices
53:42
Speaker 1: of many who would hurry them along. May we learn
53:47
Speaker 1: from this lesson out of the lives of Abram and Sarai.
53:52
Speaker 1: A couple that wound up at each other's throats. Teach us, Lord,
53:58
Speaker 1: the value of waiting. In the name of Christ, I pray.
54:09
Speaker 1: Everyone say it. Amen. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
54:16
Speaker 1: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.