Old Lea Bethel Baptist Church

Genesis 18:13-15 And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”

Sarah says, “I did not laugh.” Notice God’s response, “No, but you did laugh!” Sarah’s denial of the truth did not make it the truth. God didn’t let her off the hook simply because she was afraid. He didn’t let her lie to herself. He corrected her. The exclamation point at the end of the verse suggests that it was a quick and pointed correction.

How often do we deny the answer that God is providing? The marriage is uncomfortable… we think divorce… God says – submit and serve… we whine and deny. The job is poisoning us… we think just endure for the paycheck… God says – I have a better plan, leave and trust Me… we complain and deny. Life is falling apart… we pray for relief… God highlights a habitual sin we must give up… we ignore and deny. When nothing changes, we cry out and God says, “I’ve given you the answer. Your denial does not alter My answer.”

God still corrects in this manner. We may deny it, but God corrects. God has blessings waiting on us and we must step out obediently and accept the truth of His plan. Perhaps we’ve fallen into a habitual sin or we’ve started to worship possessions or we’ve denied God’s call in favor of our desires. Whatever the situation, when we pray and the still small voice of God gives us the truth and our ego rises to deny this truth, God WILL correct us… quickly and pointedly. The question becomes – are we listening?

Denial on our part does not become truth on God’s part. In verse 12, it says that Sarah “laughed within herself.” God hears our heart – not our words.

Genesis 21:10-11 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.”  And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

Ishmael was precious to Abraham. In Genesis 17:18-20, Abraham asks that God make Ishmael the son of promise. In Genesis 21:11, we see that Sarah’s demand that Ishmael be sent away displeased Abraham because of his son. Genesis 16 tells us that Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born. Genesis 21 tells us that Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born. God spoke to Abraham and verified that Ishmael must be sent away. Isaac was the son of promise. Ishmael was 14 years old when sent away.

In life, we must be willing to let go of the precious to receive the promise. We must be willing to release what we value to receive God’s best. Often, we miss the promise because we refuse to surrender the precious.

There are times that what is precious to us is also poison to us. The precious today poisons the promise of tomorrow, distracting our focus and draining our resources. The precious may be a poison relationship. The precious may be trying to save a wayward child. The precious may be a job with a big paycheck. The precious may be a mortgage beyond our means. The list is limitless. Only through self-examination can we identify the precious blocking the promise.

God doesn’t always require that we release the precious, but He does require that we always be willing to release the precious. With both hands desperately grasping the precious, we have no hands free to receive God’s loving promise. Be willing to release the precious that you might be available to receive the promise.

Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

A survivor of a small plane crash found himself floating in the ocean. He’d been afloat for hours with no life vest, surviving by floating on his back. After so many hours, he was exhausted and thought the end to be near. In the darkness, he saw something coming toward him. It looked like a predator, so he slapped at the water, but still it came. As he slapped outward, expecting to be attacked, his hand struck wood. It was driftwood, arriving in the nick of time, as a flotation device, saving his life. He gratefully grabbed hold. What had been scary was now prized!

Later in his ordeal, he spotted land! Ecstatic, he started to kick his legs. After expending much energy, he realized that the wood he was grasping was being swept out from the shore by the outgoing tide. He had to make a choice – hold on to the wood and continue to float or let go of the wood and swim for shore, taking the risk that he may not be strong enough to make it. If he let go and was not strong enough, he would have plenty of time to think what a fool he’d been to let the blessing go. If he didn’t, he’d have plenty of time to wonder what might have been if he had swam for shore.

He let go of the wood. He realized that this blessing was a passing blessing, not meant to be permanent. Though scary and risky, he knew that, in order to reach the shore, he had to let go.

How many times does God send a passing blessing to help us stay afloat and we, in fear, try to make it a permanent blessing? God sends a job to allow us to raise our family, but, when the family is raised, we cling to the job, while the tide of time sweeps us along, floating in an ocean of empty things and missed purpose.

Not all blessings are meant to be a permanent part of our life. Some blessings are meant to be passing. Some people are meant to come and then go. Seasons will change. Situations change. Circumstances change. It’s an undeniable truth of life.

Each of us face times in our life when we are challenged to “let go of the driftwood”. We reach a time when we feel unfulfilled, knowing that there is more to life. God may be sending a clear message that the blessing we’re clinging to was never meant to become our permanent home. We know that possessions are not purpose.

God promises that He will do a new thing, make a road in the wilderness of our anxiety, make a river in the desert of our fear, but we must first know it! We must trust that the same God who sent the driftwood to keep us from drowning will make a way in the wilderness and provide refreshment in the desert. But we must choose to let go.

Not all blessings are meant to be permanent. Sometimes, they’re meant to be used, appreciated, and then released, in anticipation of the next blessing to come. Had the man in our story never let go of the log he would have almost certainly died. Instead, he let go, found himself exhausted, never made the shoreline, floated on his back yet a while longer, and was rescued by a fishing boat that sped him to a dock where a waiting ambulance sped him to the hospital, barely in time to save his life.

We must choose to believe that God is making roads in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. We also must trust when God prompts us to let go of what is holding us back and tells us to swim. God doesn’t promise that the shore we see is the one we will reach. He simply promises that He will bring us safely to the shore.

What passing blessing are you clinging to as permanent today?

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God

Growing up, we had a doorpost leading into the kitchen where Mama and Daddy measured our growth. They’d put our back against the doorpost and, using a ruler or a book, they’d carefully make a mark. The difference between the lower mark and the higher represented our physical growth.

As a child, I knew I was growing. The fact that my pants legs were too short and looked like I was preparing for a flood served as evidence. Though I saw this evidence, it was still a great feeling when Daddy pulled that ruler away and we turned to see a mark higher up on the doorpost. There is the old mark and here is the new mark. Growth had indeed taken place. I was able to clearly compare a past growth mark to my current state.

Some never make that mark. Some never engage in self-examination. Some never drive a clear stake in the ground and declare it as the baseline for determining growth.

As we approach the changing of the year, this is a great time to take that measure of our current spirit. Between today and tomorrow, I’ll be sitting, probably more than once, and taking stock of my current spirit. I’ll look at the measurement I took last year and I’ll compare to the current measure. God will reveal growth. How much higher is the mark this year than the mark last year? Based on this mark, I’ll lay out a plan of daily activities, with periodic milestones. I’ll set calendar reminders and post reminders in highly visible places.

As we close this year, take a moment to back up against the doorpost of your mind and allow God to reveal a measure. Consider the state of the spirit within. Let Him place a mark. We can’t measure the growth if we never take the baseline measure. How will we know we have grown if we have no mark to compare?

Get clear on the current state of spirit. Strive to clarify and focus. Consume spiritual nourishment and exercise spiritual gifts. Be amazed, at the end of 2019, to step back and look at the growth experienced through God’s leading and grace.

Psalm 103: 1-5 Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,  Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

As we approach 2019, I happened to be reading Psalm 103. In it, David is giving thanks to God for the blessings in his life. I find his order of thanksgiving for the benefits of God interesting. In math, there is a concept known as “order of operations”. When presented with an equation, there is a certain order that we must follow to solve the equation and arrive at the right answer. Many fail to respect the order of operation and end up with an incorrect answer, genuinely frustrated because they thought they had the right answer.

David follows an order of Thanksgiving here. It’s a flow, much like the mathematical order of operations. He starts with thanking God for the benefit of relationship and communion with Him. This is always the place to start with God. We must always start with heartfelt appreciation for the forgiveness and restoration of relationship that we find in Christ. Without this restoration, nothing else matters and we ultimately end up with an incorrect answer.

Next, David thanks God for healing him of his sicknesses. We too must thank God for our health. How many health risks has God removed from us, sometimes without us even knowing we were at risk? How many times has He healed without us knowing we needed healing? Ask any person struggling with health and you will quickly realize that health is a blessing. For those of us who wake up in health, whatever the state, it is a blessing that is denied others. We must be thankful for His blessing when we are able to rise in the morning and spend another day serving Him.

Next, David thanks God for redeeming his life from destruction. We too must thank God for redeeming our life from destruction. How many times has God redeemed us? Who knows? Some redemption takes place without us knowing we’re in trouble. How might life be different if God were not in our life? God restores and redeems. He is slow to anger and quick to redeem. The Bible states that pride goeth before destruction. God grants us humility, so we might avoid pride.

David continues to thank God for His loving kindness and tender mercies. We too must thank God for love, kindness, and mercy.

Finally, David thanks God for the good things that satisfy the appetite. Notice the last thing in this order of thanksgiving is earthly, physical, “body satisfying” things.

In the order of thankfulness, food and things are not worth much without love and kindness. Love and kindness don’t mean much when our life is in a state of destruction. An ordered life doesn’t hold much enjoyment when our health is failing. Great health and all the rest mean nothing without the highest order of the operation – a relationship with Almighty God through Jesus.

We spend so much time on the last operation. We focus so little on the first. Yet, the first is where all the others start their cascade. In 2019, let’s focus more on the relationship and communion with God and let the others flow from this first operation.