Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Running ahead of God │ Msg 822 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Running ahead of God │ Msg 822 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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