TD Jakes - Re-Routing Your Life (04/15/2017)
Using David's failed and successful attempts to bring back the Ark of the Covenant, the preacher illustrates seasons of "rerouting"—when plans buffer and slip despite good intentions—teaching that God uses setbacks to correct man-made methods, demanding full surrender, bigger steps in faith, and leading praise to release breakthrough blessings.
The Aggravation of Rerouting
Sometimes you will be driving down the road, and you will get to a certain point, and your GPS will say, "Rerouting." And it will be rerouting—and while it is rerouting, you just standing there.
You say, "Well, wait a minute—I am driving. When you get through rerouting, should I be going forward? Should I have taken a right? Should I have taken a left?"
When you are in a state of rerouting, it is aggravating because you are trying to make progress and you are rerouting.
This is an answer to somebody right now. You are trying to go ahead. You are trying to move. You are trying to figure it out—and you are at a buffering moment—and God says, "Your journey is not over. The promise was not a lie. I am still going to do it. I might not do it the way you had imagined it."
This is a moment of rerouting. Touch three people and say, "Rerouting."
David's Mission to Restore Glory
David was trying to bring back the Ark of the Covenant. Put my Ark up there. David is trying to bring back the Ark of the Covenant. He was trying to do something that his predecessor had not done.
His predecessor had ruled without glory. The Ark of the Covenant had not been present for 20-some years—and David makes up his mind that he is going to bring back the glory.
It is made of wood. It is overlaid and inlaid with gold. It is an expression of Jesus Christ Himself in the Old Testament.
It has within its comprise the law of Moses—symbolic of the fact that the law is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It has the rod of Aaron that budded—to give us a hint at the fact that God will bring life out of death.
Inside, it also has a pot of manna—to let us know that Christ is the bread of life. "Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and perished, but I am the true bread that cometh down out of heaven."
All of that was in the Ark of the Covenant.
The Ark's Symbolism
The two angels on both sides are standing pointing to a place where the Shekinah glory would rest. The Shekinah glory would rest right here and shoot up out of the tent and out of the temple—because this is the mercy seat.
They had lost the Ark of the Covenant—and David says under my leadership, I am going to bring back the glory.
This is a good mission—but just because you mean good does not mean that things go right.
The First Attempt: A New Cart
Thirty-thousand people are following him to Jerusalem—dancing and shouting about how smart and how great he is—and then he started buffering.
He had built a new cart. He had a good plan to bring back the glory. He had built the cart and designed it to travel. It is a ten-mile stretch he has to go. He has thirty-thousand people behind him.
Everybody is looking at his new cart. Everybody is bragging about him bringing back the glory. "Oh David, David, David"—they are dancing, dancing, dancing—and then, all of a sudden, they hit a pothole in the middle of the road.
Have you ever hit a pothole in the middle of the road? Just when you are about to step into your destiny—just when you are about to finally show the devil who is boss—just when you are about to see the promise of God come to pass—the ox slipped, the cart moved, the Ark of the Covenant started sliding.
Uzza tried to save it. Uzza touched it and died.
In front of everybody, it turned into a mess—and the Bible says God was angry because Uzza touched the Ark—and David started buffering.
Just when everything was going great, he started buffering.
You know what I hate about buffering? It always starts when you need it the most. And you be shaking the phone—"Not now—not in the middle of this presentation—not in the middle of what I am searching for—not in the middle of what"... not now.
Somebody say, "Not now."
The Slip as a Setup
God is angry—why would God be angry over the ox slipping in a hole in a road God made? Could it be that God ordered your slip?
"Order my steps in Your word, dear Lord. Teach me"... ugh. Whoo—does God order slips? Does God order layoffs? Does God order repossessions? Does God order heartbreaks? Does God order disappointment? Does God order mayhem? Does God order funerals?
Not now—and Uzza reaches out to fix it—but when God orders something, nobody can—that is how you know God ordered it. When God orders it, nobody can...
And God killed the one who tried to fix what He had ordered. He was trying to save the Ark of the Covenant—but that is like trying to save God. You are trying to save what is trying to save you—that is the kind of stupid stuff Sarah did—bringing Hagar in, trying to come up with a plan to cover up for something she thought God was not God enough to do.
See, all of these man-made carts always mess up. All the stuff you do for yourself by yourself always goes awry—because if you could be your own God, you would not need God.
And sometimes God is revealed in the slip. You thought His greatest presence was when everything was going right—but God's greatest presence shows up when all hell is breaking loose.
I think He said, "I am a very present help in trouble." If you never get in trouble, you will never have an experience with God.
How you going to know He is a healer if you never get sick? How you going to know He is a provider if you never get hungry? How you going to know He is a way maker if you never get lost?
Somebody slipped—but God sent me to tell you the slip is a setup.
Buffering for Three Months
And God starts a rerouting in his life—and all of a sudden—watch this—the David who was leading all the people, and all the people were singing, and dancing, and everything was going good—lost confidence in himself and in his plan—said, "Leave it at the house of Obed-Edom."
After going all of that way to get it—just leave it. Everything starts buffering.
I feel ministry in this place right now. The things that mean the most to you will always hit a point where everything starts buffering.
And David said, "I do not care—let Obed-Edom have it." Obed-Edom had no more right to the Ark of the Covenant than the man in the moon. He was a Gittite—he had no right to have the Ark of the Covenant.
But because David has lost confidence in himself and in his mission—God moves into the house of a Gittite and starts blessing the Gittite as if he were an Israelite—because God will bless whoever will open up the door.
Whoo—I feel like shouting right now.
And David was just buffering—and buffering—and buffering—and buffering—and buffering—and while he buffered for three months—three months—God is not saying nothing—David is not saying nothing—they both upset—they just buffering.
See, sometimes when we get mad at God, we think that if we stick out our lips and pout long enough that we will have a tantrum and God will change His mind.
And God is saying, "I spat that little temper in you that you got right now—I am tougher than you are"—and so you got to buffer till you break.
And this is how He broke him—He started blessing somebody else. Hey, hey!
David was saying, "I do not care"—and they said, "You know, all of Obed-Edom's daughters are pregnant—all of his fields are growing—bringing in twice as much increase. Look like everything Obed-Edom touches getting blessed"—and David said, "I do not care."
Because God says if you will not receive this blessing, I will give it to somebody else—and I will let you watch Me bless somebody else with the blessing that was meant for you. I will do it right in your face. I will prepare a table and let you be a spectator at a meal I meant for you.
And all of a sudden, David begins to humble himself—and he says, "I want to go back—I do care." Somebody say, "I do care."
The Anointing in Caring
Stop lying about what you care about—because the Christos, the anointing is in your care.
You are running from the care because caring hurts—but the anointing is in the caring. That is why God is using something you care about to make you stop being phony—to make you humble yourself down and admit I do need—I do love—I do care—I am thirsty—I am broken.
Oh, Lamb of God, I come—I am on my knees—I fall out—I collapse—I break my alabaster box. I do not care what people say. I do not care what they think. I am willing to let my hair down. I am willing to get down on my knees. I do care.
I do not know who I am preaching to—but somebody in this room—stop saying you do not care about something you do care about. I do care!
And he says I want it back. Somebody holler, "I want it back." I do not know what your it is—but I want it back. Say it, "I want it back."
Changing Plan, Pace, and Position
Now, why go back if you are not willing to change? To keep doing the same thing the same way expecting a different result is lunacy.
Okay, I am going to wrap this up—but I want you to get this. That means you got to be willing to be rerouted. You have to be willing to change the way you take. You got to be willing to accept responsibility that the way you did it the first time was wrong.
You built a cart—God did not want to be on the cart—the cart was not Biblical in the first place.
I do not have time to teach it—but God never wanted to dwell on the back of a cart—He wanted to rest on the shoulders of His priests.
You messed up—you meant well but you did it wrong—and you have to humble yourself and say, "I got it wrong—and I am willing to change." Somebody holler, "Change."
So he said this is what I am going to do—let me give you this. These are the things you need to change—three things he changed.
He changed his plan. He said, "This time, when we get it back, I am not going to put it on a cart—I am going to put Him on the backs of the shoulders of the priests. We are going to make contact with God—we are not going to let anything stand in between us and God. This time, we are going to be personally involved. This time, I am going to have the weight of glory on my shoulder. I am not going to get an ox to bear the weight of the glory—I am going to bear the weight of the glory."
This time, I am not going to take the position and not do the job—I am going to put the weight on my shoulder. I am going to be responsible. I am going to stand up to it. Do you hear what... I am talking to somebody—I do not know who it is—but you got to accept the weight.
You cannot have the glory and not take the weight.
So number one, he changed his plan. Number two, he changed his pace.
For the Bible said that when they put the Ark of the Covenant on the shoulders of the priests, the Bible said they started pacing—and if you read it in the original Hebrew, it means big steps.
God said, "If I am going to do this in you, you cannot be taking these little, itty-bitty steps"—talking about gradually, someday, sooner or later, give me time, it just takes me more time, I am not ready yet.
God said I am not walking with somebody that is not ready yet—I am walking with somebody who is going to take big paces.
I do not know who I am preaching to today—but this is your season to take big paces. I want somebody to take a big step somewhere.
God said I am going to walk with you if you take big paces. I am not going to walk with you while you feel sorry for yourself and make little, itty-bitty steps—I am not a God of small steps—I am a high-stepping God.
I prophesy to you—before the year is out—if you take a big step, God will open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing you will not have room to receive.
For 30 seconds, give God a crazy praise.
I see what we have been doing wrong—we almost got it right. One minute I told you to take big steps, and you took big steps—and the next minute I told you to praise the Lord, and you praised the Lord.
But what you got to do is learn how to take big steps and praise the Lord at the same time. Hallelujah—I bless Your name.
David Leads in Praise
Well, I am almost finished—I feel a rerouting about to take place in your life. This message is a sign that the enemies that you see today, you shall see them no more.
This is your breakthrough word. This is your breakthrough season. This is your step-out time. This is your come forth.
Shout, "Yes!"
There is only one problem—I told you there were three points and I only gave you two. Number one, he changed his plan. Number two, he changed his pace. But number three, he changed his position.
You see, the first time, the people were praising God—but you do not hear where David was praising Him. But this time, David got out in front of it—and he started praising God so much that while he was praising God, he started throwing off stuff and giving God the glory.
And the Lord said when you throw your whole self at your blessing—God is going to open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing you do not have room enough...
Throw everything you got—throw everything you have got.
Wait a minute—the Bible said that David started dancing. Jan—the Bible said he danced out his clothes. He danced till he looked like a stripper.
The Bible said his wife looked out the window and saw him and got embarrassed because he had stripped off his clothes.
I said, "Lord, what are You saying to me? Do You want us to strip out our clothes?" He said "No—I want you to tell them the reason you have not prevailed is that you have never thrown your whole self at anything I promised you."
You thought it would not cost you nothing—but if you throw everything in, God said, "I will throw everything in." If you give all you have got, I will give all I got.
I am through preaching to you—but I am going to give you three minutes to give God a crazy, supernatural, this is all I got, sanctified praise.
Give Him that praise—give Him that praise.
Oh, I got to stop there—I am so excited about this I could go on, and on, and on. You know I love to talk anyway—but I got to go.
I want you to know I am praying for you. I am believing God with you that the Word of God would dwell in your heart and sink deeply down into the soil of your spirit—and come up bringing forth fruit in your life, your home, and your relationships.
Go with God—and may God go with you.