Bobby Chandler - How to Trust God Again
- Watch
Summary:
In this Mother’s Day message continuing the «Warning: How to Prevent Spiritual Injury» series, the preacher addresses the spiritual brokenness that comes from struggling to trust God after life’s hurts and disappointments. Using personal stories, Proverbs 3:5-6, and the dramatic examples from Abraham and Sarah’s journey—including their attempts to control outcomes and God’s ultimate test with Isaac—he stresses that true trust requires surrendering control completely. The core takeaway is that clinging to control leads to lost self-control and generational harm, but abandoning ourselves to God allows the Holy Spirit to produce peace, direction, and the fruit of self-control in our lives.
Recapping the Series So Far
We have been in a series titled «Warning: How to Prevent Spiritual Injury, » and we’re asking the question, «What do you do when you feel spiritually broken? What do you do when you feel like you have nothing left to give?» In week one, we learned that God wants to exceed our expectations. He wants to do something bigger in your life, and it may not be in your timing or the way you want it to be. But what God is doing, you must have faith and watch Him show up and show out because He’s a good God.
If you were here last week, we talked about guarding your mind. Now, why do you need to guard your mind? Because if Satan can convince you to believe a lie, guess what else he can convince you to do? He can convince you to live the lie. If he can convince you to believe a lie, then he’ll also convince you to live a lie. Listen, you are not a lost cause. We learned this last week: God created you for a purpose, and you’re going to go through some things that may be hard, but God will never leave you. He will always be by your side through it all.
The Challenge of Trusting People
Today, I want to talk about the subject of trust. Do me a favor and raise your hand if you have a hard time trusting people. Somebody has hurt you; somebody lied to you. You might think, «I don’t know; that one time, I just don’t trust these people.» In today’s culture, you get that Facebook friend request, and you’re like, «Who is this? They’ve got three friends; are they real or are they fake? Can I trust them?» I was joking around this week because I called my mom, and this always makes me laugh when it comes to her because she grew up in California, in this big city, and she always had to be guarded about who she could trust and what people told her. So, she’s very suspicious of a lot of things.
I remember back in the day she’d call me and say, «Look, hey, I got this email. I don’t know how they got my email; okay? They got my email, and they’re saying I got a gift. I didn’t order anything. Alright, do I open it? Do I not open it?» I’d say, «Mom, did you go to a store? Yeah. Did you buy something? Yeah. Did you write down your email? Oh, yeah. Okay, maybe that’s what it is.» It used to make me laugh because she would get phone calls from an unknown number, and she’d say, «Who’s calling me?» I’m like, «Mom, it’s cool; it’s probably a telemarketer. It’s okay; you don’t have to answer.» She’d say, «I’m gonna let that one go to voicemail. If they call me again, I’m unplugging the phone.» Right? This is suspicious!
Well, my favorite part—pray for your parents when they start getting on social media for the very first time, you know what I mean? Anyone agree with that? I remember it was so funny; she would call me and say, «Look, somebody added me. Do I add them back? Are they going to be my friend now? Should I comment? Should I like their stuff? What do you think? I don’t even know if I know them!» I’d say, «Mom, it’s okay. I know this is a brand new world for you. I love you, Mom; I know you’re watching right now. Happy Mother’s Day!»
Now, how many of you have a hard time trusting people? Here’s the problem: what I notice with a lot of people who struggle in their relationship with God is that they view God the same way they view people. There are people out there who view God the same way they view people, and listen, that’s very dangerous. Why? Because people are going to tell you things; they’re going to lie, they’re going to hurt you, they’re going to make mistakes because even good people can make mistakes, right? Even people with the right intentions can do things selfishly and hurt you. I’ve seen people completely run away from God and run away from the church because of a person. Or maybe you’ve had church hurt; maybe it was a pastor that hurt you, and because of that pastor, you’re saying, «I’m not going to go to church anymore. I can’t have a relationship with God anymore because if that’s what a Christian looks like…»
Never judge the character of God based on a person because people will always make mistakes—always.
God’s Unbreakable Promises
Let me show you this: God will never ever break a promise. God will never lie to you. Hebrews chapter 6, verse 18, New Living Translation: «So God has given both His promise and His oath, and these two things are unchangeable.» How are they unchangeable? Because it is impossible for God to lie. It’s impossible! His word is perfect, and everything that He speaks over your life—I’m telling you, there’s been a time in your life where you’ve heard God speak over your situation, and God says, «It’s gonna be okay.» And then you kind of open your eyes and think, «How in the world is it gonna be okay? Everything’s falling apart.» But still you have that word from God: «I’m never gonna leave you; it’s gonna be okay. Keep holding on to what I’m speaking over your life because I do not lie.»
But I notice this: we go through situations and because we don’t understand, we don’t know how to trust God. So the title of today’s message is this: «How to Trust God Again.» The reason why I added the word «again» is because, like I said, sometimes you’re gonna go through difficult situations and you’re going to feel alone in that moment. You’re not going to understand. Maybe you were praying over your marriage, praying, «God, please heal us and let everything be okay, » but your spouse still left. Now you’re in a situation you never thought you would be, and you’re saying, «God, I thought I trusted you for this.» Or maybe you were praying for physical healing, and you just needed something to happen in your life. Or maybe your child—your own child—was sick, and you were praying, «God, please, » because I know you’re a good God; the pastor speaks about it every week. But no healing, and you go through seasons like this, and you start to question. The enemy will just attack your mind—have you been there? —where the enemy just gets all up in your head?
And I know I need to be guarded today, but it’s so easy to believe the lie. It feels like I’m alone. I do not understand, «God, why you’re not giving me what I’m praying for?» But what does this word say? «So God has given both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie.» Look at this: Psalm chapter 33, verse 4, New Living Translation: «For the word of God holds true, and we can trust everything that He does.» The word of God holds true, and we can trust everything that He does. That means everything spoken out of this book is perfect; everything spoken out of this book will come to pass. It doesn’t matter what the environment looks like around you or what your world looks like, or what’s happening, or what’s crumbling down. God’s word—what He has spoken—will take place. But what do you do when you’re having a hard time trusting God?
Surrendering Control to Trust God
This is what I’ve noticed, okay? I want to show you this today: in order to trust God fully, you’re going to have to surrender. Notice the wording I’m using: you’re going to have to surrender something very difficult, and I would love for you to write this down. What do we have to surrender to trust God fully? And that answer is control. Speaking of me today, Pastor, because I just came for Mother’s Day; I just wanted to go out to eat after this. What are you doing? It’s control.
The Dangers of Control — Point A
Let me show you two biblical truths about the dangers of control.
Point A is this: the more you control, the more you lose self-control. The more you try to control, the more you’re going to lose your own self-control. Let’s look at this: Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6: «How do you trust the Lord? You trust the Lord with all of your heart. How do you do that? You do not depend on your what? Your own understanding.» This means you don’t base your trust in God off of what you see—your own insight, your own wisdom—because guess what? You don’t know what’s gonna happen; you don’t know what’s around the corner. You can try to control the situation, but only God knows how to make your path straight.
So what do we do? Do we have to have the answer to everything? No! This is what we do: we seek His will in everything. What does that mean? It means even when I’m going through a difficult situation, the only thing that should be on my mind is how to glorify God. «But that hurts! I’m going through something difficult.» But all I’m focused on is how to glorify God. This is what I love about the passage: when you do that, when you seek His will in everything you do—through the good and the bad—guess what? He will show you which path to take.
I love the commentary about this because this actually means that God will remove things out of your life. He will protect you; He will guide you. If something is blocking your path, guess what? It’s with God’s strength that it’s going to be moved out of your way. But what happens when you try to do it on your own? You get crushed; you get hurt. You look at that situation, and a lot of us say, «Oh no, never mind! I’m going to go back, alright? I’m not gonna do something like that.» Why? Because we can’t do it on our own. And so I want to show you this: in other words, what I’m trying to say to you is this: you will always be at war with trusting God when you also desire to have control. You will always be at war with trusting God when you desire to have control because here is the pattern: the more you try to control on the outside, the more you lose emotional control on the inside. The more you try to control the outside, the more you lose emotional control on the inside.
Man, this was real for me. This is very real for me. Have you found yourself panicking over things that do not matter? Little things just drive you crazy, right? Maybe you bought a new rug and you’re like, «Look, this is a rug for the house! Isn’t it beautiful?» Yes! What are you doing? «Don’t step on the rug! Don’t step on that rug! Go around the rug!» Why did we get a rug? Because it looks nice! Can’t we have anything nice in this house? What’s funny is my wife knows this is actually more me than it is her; that’s how bad this is. She will admit that she’s pointing at me right now. I love you, happy Mother’s Day! Alright, see, I put myself on front street too; it’s all good. But yeah, you get these things and you start panicking: «I gotta fold the towels and the towel’s gonna look perfect!» And also your OCD kicks in like, «Who took a shower? What are you doing?» Right?
Or maybe, you know, if you have children—man, I felt this so much. You have a child go out with messy hair, and you’re like, «Man, what are you doing? Are you representing me right now?» Because you’ve got that hair going on, and everybody’s looking at you, and they’re going to judge me, and they’re going to know that every Facebook picture and Instagram picture has a filter on it, and they’re going to call me a fraud! Right? You start panicking. Have you noticed you’re losing self-control because you want to control everything about your life? You just want to make it perfect, and you’re trying to live up to these standards. Who gave you these standards? Who taught you this is how you’re supposed to live or how you’re supposed to look? The culture? We live in a fallen world; they don’t know God, they don’t know His grace, and you’re listening to them. Just like last week we talked about the lost cause: Jesus was always going in a direction toward people that nobody wanted to talk to. He healed ten men with leprosy. You don’t touch a man with leprosy; you don’t speak to them! But Jesus was always going that route. He ate with the tax collectors—in that culture, they were thieves; these were sinners! How dare you eat with them? But I realize who I am in Christ; He’s forgiven me! He set me free! I don’t have to live by the world’s standards.
But if you notice, you’re trying to control these things, and I realize here’s a reality check for you: in order to be healthy—you’re praying for health; you’re praying for this peace of mind—you have to surrender control over to God. And it’s a battle, and that’s why I’m telling you, you have to surrender it! You literally have to wave the white flag: «God, I don’t have the strength to do this.» Because sometimes I feel like I trust You, and I’m doing good, and then the next week, I’m trying to control again, and then I trust You, and then I’m back and forth, back and forth. And I want to be real with you just to scare you that you can’t control everything.
Moms in the room, we’re honoring you today, but how many times did you sit up with worry and fear, praying over your child that they’ll make the right decisions, that they won’t be in the wrong place? Because these are things that were out of your control! You can’t control your child’s decisions in life or where they go in the future. For some of you, you wake up every single day with this anxiety and stress, worried about your business, even though your business is doing good, right? Or you’re hitting success, but «What if I lose success tomorrow?» It’s not in your control! You can do as much as possible, but trust God through the process! But you can’t help it if people stop buying your product!
But does that like mess with you? For a lot of you, let me speak to you about this: you cannot control another person’s happiness by putting all of their burdens on your shoulders. You can’t! But for some of you, it drives you crazy; you want everybody to be happy. You want them to know that they’re loved, but they may not see life the way you see it right now, and you’re trying to force these things to happen. You’re trying to control the situation. And when you have to have control, listen to me: this is why it’s dangerous; you reject God from leading you. When you have to take control, this is what you’re saying: «God, I know better. I know you’re telling me to have patience and to wait and to believe and have faith, and that’s all good; I know that’s the Bible school answer, but right now I need something else. I’ve got to make something happen.»
Here’s what I want to share with you: when you do give up control, guess what? The Holy Spirit—the Spirit of God—produces self-control! When you finally release control, it is the Spirit of God that produces self-control within you! And that is good news! Why? Because it’s not up to you! Really, the Bible was telling you: fully give up control over your life, and the Spirit of God will direct you, and God will guide your path.
The Fruit of the Spirit
Let me show you—the children’s ministry has been learning this; it’s called the fruits of the Spirit. Mikey, you know them? Okay, you awake?
Alright, Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 and 23: «But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: what does the Holy Spirit produce? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and what? Self-control.» Why is this important? Because our flesh will always desire sin. Our flesh will always desire sin. Our flesh will always be at battle, at war to make things happen and look a certain way. But the Spirit of God lives inside of us as believers—the Holy Spirit—and He’s speaking to you: «Don’t do it!» But if I just tell them real quick, God, then I’m gonna put them in their place, and I’m gonna feel better. «No, you’re gonna say it, and then you’re gonna regret it, and then you can’t take it back.» But God, if I just force these things within my business, if I just go out and do this and do that and make things better, it won’t make things better! In fact, you’re going to neglect your family more, and they’re going to miss you, and you’re trying to force all these things to happen. Who gave you your job? Who is providing financially for you? Who gave you your health? Who is really in control? Do you trust me or yourself?
And the Holy Spirit produces this, and it’s this voice of God, and God always brings conviction. The character of God will bring conviction in your life to make you re-evaluate some things. Now, Satan will condemn you. Satan comes into your life, and he condemns you: «Look at you; you’re never going to be any better.» But God says, «No, look at this: I can fix it; I could change this about you.» Self-control is the fruit of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Verse 25: «And since we are now living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.» This is how God sets your path straight: the Spirit of God leading you and taking out the obstacles, providing for you.
What if you woke up every day truly believing that? I mean it! Every day: «God, I trust you.» It doesn’t mean it’s going to be a good day, but I trust you. And I know through everything that I’m facing today you are working out something for the good. The more we try to control, the more we start to lose self-control.
Jumping Ship from Control — Point B
Point B is this: we must jump ship from control. We must jump ship completely away from it. I thought I was about to jump, didn’t you? Waking some of you up! Jump ship from control! What does that mean? Okay, David expressed this form of worship in Psalm chapter 40, verse 3. He gave us some incredible insight, and I want to share this with you. Psalm 40, verse 3 is the New Living Translation: «He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what He has done, and they will be amazed.» Now listen to this: they will put their trust in the Lord. So they will put their trust in the Lord because they’re amazed by the power and the authority of God. And because of that, I will always praise His holy name!
What He did a year ago—praise Him! What He did five years ago—praise Him! Never forget what God is doing. But I want to show it to you in a different way. Now, I saw another pastor brought this out, and he read the message version of Psalm chapter 40, verse 3, and it was interesting to me how it ended. So listen to this: «He taught me how to sing the latest God song, a praise song to our God. More and more people are seeing this, » then this part I want you to pay attention to: «They enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God.» Isn’t that interesting? The New Living Translation says they will put their trust fully in the Lord, but the Message Translation tells us that means to abandon yourself completely.
Get away from yourself; to put your trust fully in God, you must abandon yourself. But it gets better: what is the definition of abandonment? Get this! According to Webster’s Dictionary, it actually says this: to give up control of another person. The definition of abandonment means to give up control of another person. And also, listen to this, it means to withdraw from danger, to escape from danger, to get out of danger’s path. In other words, abandon ship!
Now, I wasn’t able to get a ship on stage; we’re still praying about this. I think my illustrations will get bigger and better over time. You got to bear with me. What’s kind of funny is because I’m talking about control today, and I said, «Alright, let’s bring this kayak up here, » which deflated, as you can tell. Alright, so something out of my control. But I started to think about this: I’m gonna do the best I can with this, so just bear with me, alright? There we go! Alright, this is what we do—cameraman, you got me? This is what we do in life!
Now, this looks silly—one reason is deflated—but a lot of times this is the kind of stuff we hold on to. This is the kind of stuff in our life that we trust: something that’s not dependable, something that could easily deflate and mess up. A lot of times, we’re on the water going a direction, and God speaks to us and He says, «You need to abandon ship.» And here’s what we do: we take a little paddle (it’s kind of hard with the mic in my hand, but you know what I mean—it’s terrible; pretend I’m paddling, okay? You got my arms). And we look over and say, «Nope! I’m not jumping in the water! I’m not abandoning the ship! I’m staying right here! I can control it; it’s a little bit comfortable and I know where I’m going because I got my compass! I know what I’m doing; my GPS is telling me I’m gonna be okay.»
And God says, «Who made the waters? Who made the winds? You got that compass, but who made the magnetic fields that drive that compass? And see what you don’t know is where you’re heading! First of all, you’re sinking, you dummy! But also the rapids are about to get bad, and the rocks are big, and there’s a waterfall coming. There’s dangerous things right in front of you.»
And so you have a choice: either you can still be in control, like you think you are, and keep heading down this dangerous path or you can abandon ship, and you can jump into the deep waters, and yes, it may be scary for a time, but I know where you’re going; I’m leading you. But let me ask you: is this you right now? Is this you? Is this your life? Is this why you’re frustrated? Is this why you’re panicked? You feel like the things that you can control are falling apart, and God is telling you to do something different, something new: jump into the deep waters! You don’t know how—God, how do I jump? How do I have faith? And God is telling us this: the more you desire control, the more you do not desire for God to lead you because you got to make a choice.
The Story of Abraham and Sarah
And for the remainder of the sermon, I want to share a story with you out of the Bible. It’s a famous story; many of you have heard about Abraham and Sarah, but I want to show you some new insight about their story and what they learned. Because what you’re going to see is that first of all, their names in the beginning were not Abraham and Sarah; they were changed. It was Abram and Sarai. I’m explaining why that happened, but they became dead to their old self because they used to struggle. They struggled with having faith in God, but at the same time, they also wanted control. And then God took that out of their life, but then He does something crazy through a test that a lot of people don’t understand.
So I’m going to show you new insight today; it’s going to be really good. But if you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to Genesis chapter 12, and I’m going to show you parts of the story. It’s a very long one, so I’m going to give you some of the context of what was taking place. In Genesis chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, this is what it says: «The Lord said to Abram, ‘I want you to leave your native country, your relatives, your father’s family, and I want you to go to the land that I will show you.’»
Now, imagine that blind faith. Okay, think about it: God is telling you, «I’m going to lead you somewhere.» «Where are we going?» «I’ll show you.» «What are you going to do?» «Just go!» Alright? And what a lot of people don’t understand because we know the story of Abraham and we get that he had great faith and all these things, but also, if you know Abraham’s upbringing, he comes from the land of Ur of the Chaldeans, which means that his family was pagan. It means that the culture that he was around was pagan, which means that everybody around him worshipped idols. And all of a sudden, this is brand new for him! The God that created this universe calls him out by name: «Abram, follow me! Leave everything that you know, everything that you grew up around, alright? And have faith that you’ll enter into the land that I will show you.»
Now what will take place when you get there? He said, «I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and you will become famous, and you will become a blessing to others.» Immediately, the moment that Abram encountered God, God spoke a word over his life. Now think about that because I believe the same has happened for you. The moment that you came into this room or the moment that God spoke to you in your life, no matter what you’ve been through, God spoke something over your situation that today you still hold on to. It’s the reason you are who you are today; it’s the reason you had faith; it’s the reason you had hope even through the darkest of times.
And so in the very beginning, He says, «Abram, I’m going to bless you; I’m going to give you many descendants. All you have to do is trust me.» And I can relate to this because I see Abram, and he takes Sarah, and he takes some of his relatives and he leaves this land that he knows, and he has tremendous faith. But you’re also going to see throughout the Bible that he struggled with control because this one story kind of cracks me up because it gets really bad. They’re going through Egypt, alright, and we know according to the scripture, according to the Bible that his wife was very beautiful. And so he comes up with this crazy idea, like a man does, and says, «Hey, you know what? Let’s pretend I’m your brother. That should be good, alright? Let’s go into this new land because if they see you, they’re gonna think that you’re beautiful, and then they might kill me. Okay? So this is gonna work out for both of us; don’t worry!»
Alright, so they go into Egypt, and he says, «You know I’m her brother!» All these things happen. Well, guess what takes place? It’s what happens when we try to control. You tell a little lie, try to make these things happen, and all of a sudden it gets worse and worse and worse, and the situation gets out of control. Well, guess who falls in love with his wife? The Pharaoh! The Pharaoh of Egypt falls in love with his wife, and I can only imagine the Bible doesn’t really go into it, but I can only imagine the conversations. Like, «This is a great idea, Abram! I’m glad you convinced me to do this! Now I’m getting married to this guy! What do you want me to do?» Well, congratulations! I don’t know. You know? Because they didn’t stop them. That’s the thing about the story; they didn’t stop them.
But as it was about to take place, guess who stopped it? Not Abram, not Sarah—God did! God did! And He brought plagues upon Pharaoh, and then finally Pharaoh realized the truth, and he’s like, «What are you doing? Why would you come into my land and tell me these lies? Why would you cheat me like this?» And he says, «Get out of here; go!» It was God that set them free.
But you see this story over and over again: you see Abram and Sarah trust in God, and then in moments they want to control, and things get bad. Then they trust God, and then they want to control. What good ever comes out of your life when you try to control everything? What good? Who have you hurt? What things have you done that you wish you didn’t—all because you wanted control? Yet every time God comes through, all we see is good; all we see is perfection. That’s why we have testimonies within this church: «God took me here and did this. I’m so glad I walked in faith because God was moving! I let go of control, and He performed a miracle!»
And so we see this story, so they’re still trusting God even after that. God is still blessing them, and protecting them, and guiding their paths. And then in Genesis chapter 15, verse 5, God reminds Abram. I think about it like this: He said, «I haven’t forgotten you! I know you’re tired; I know you’ve been traveling; I know you feel like things aren’t going to work out the way you want them to, but look up into the sky! You see the stars? Count them if you can! I told you you would be a powerful nation! You would bless many, and all the stars in the sky will be the number of descendants you will have! That’s how many descendants you will have, Abram! I have not forgotten about you!»
And it’s in that moment that it’s just Abram and God, and he felt His presence. And so when you’re reading the story, you’re like, «Man, that’s powerful! That’s good! I bet Abram’s ready!» And then chapter 16, they go right back to control. Chapter 15, God says, «Look at the stars! Here’s my promise for you!» Chapter 16, they want control again.
Lessons from Abraham and Sarah — Point 1
And so for the remainder of the story, I want to share two truths on how to trust God again that we can learn from Abraham and Sarah.
Point number one is this: Control is a temptation that will always keep your family in the ship. Control will always keep your family in the ship. Again, what is the definition of abandonment? It means to jump away, to get away from danger. That’s exactly what God wants to do in your life.
And a lot of times we look at our situation and we think more selfishly: «This only involves me. This is what I want to do; this is how I feel, and I want this for my life.» But you don’t really see the future of how it impacts the generations to come. Your decisions today impact the generations to come. Your faith today will impact the generations to come. The way you doubt, the way you have faith, the way you speak about God, or the way you run away will all have effects on the generations to come.
And if you know the story of Abram and Sarah, you realize that they always wanted control. They wanted control out of Genesis chapter 16. In Genesis chapter 16, verses 1 and 2, that’s what it says: «Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him.» Now, what happened in Genesis 15? Remember, God just said, «Here’s your promise! Here’s what I have for you.» Genesis 16: «Had not been able to bear children for him, so she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, ‘The Lord has prevented me from having children! ’»
Notice her tone; notice the mindset. When you believe you are in control, because when you believe you are in control, this is how you sound. Or this is how I would sound: «God’s not doing what I want him to do right now! God’s not giving me my blessing; God’s not providing like He said He would!»
But when you give God control, you say things like this: «God will work it out! I’ll be okay! I’ll get there!» And so this is her idea. Now it just gets more complicated, as if they didn’t learn their lesson in Egypt. And she says, «Go and sleep with my servant; perhaps I can have children through her.» And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal because men are stupid, okay? «Yeah! Alright, if you say so!»
And it just got him in trouble! I got him in trouble! Do you struggle with control? Maybe you grew up in a family where everything had to be perfect, and your parents always wanted you to look perfect, to get the perfect grades, to go to the perfect school—very perfect, looked perfect all the time—and you hated it! You hated it! You always felt judged; you never felt good enough. And you said you would never do that to your own children, and then you notice you’re saying the same things and putting that same pressure on your own children, and it kills you!
And there are days where you look up at God and say, «I don’t want to be like this! Why am I teaching them the same things that I hated myself?» Or maybe you grew up in a family where you saw a loveless marriage, and you said, «My marriage is never gonna look like that! I’m never gonna have something like that! I’m going to have a beautiful marriage; I’m gonna make sure that I’m fully committed.» But you’re so full of fear to look like what you saw growing up that instead of supporting your spouse, you control your spouse, and you’re constantly controlling everything that they do, and you’re driving everybody away! Because when you try to control everything, you start to lose what? Self-control! You start to go mad!
And that’s exactly what we’re seeing right here, again—right before God says, «Look! This is what I have for you!» Then Genesis 16: «God’s not giving me a child, so we’re going to make this happen!» And in one moment of weakness, they took control and did not trust God to lead them. How does it impact the generations to come? How does it keep your family in the ship heading toward disaster? Because if you know the story, Hagar had a son named Ishmael. Now there was division and jealousy that took place for her between her and Sarai, so they cast them out to die! They sent them away from the family: «Leave! Go!» And they had nowhere to go! She thought she was going to die; her child was going to die, and she had nothing left to give!
But an angel of the Lord came and saved her! God showed remorse and spoke even a blessing over them, and God saved her! But if you know the story, Ishmael’s lineage turned into the Palestinians, who today worship Muhammad. God kept His promise; Sarah had a son; his name was Isaac. His lineage became the Jewish nation, which today leads us, of course, to Jesus Christ and centuries later, even to this day, because of one moment of weakness with control, they’re still at war with each other. I want you to think about that. Because of that one moment of weakness, what did it do? Kept the family in the ship heading toward a bad direction!
Are there things in your life that you need to let go? Is there something in your life right now you said you would never do, and you’re constantly seeing yourself do? Or you’re panicking over little things that do not matter? Because this is what hit me hard: I started to think about this. Like I said, sometimes I get—you know we’ve been renovating our house for a while, and so I wanted to look perfect. And then somebody with butterfingers or like Cheetos all over their hands start touching it and paint stuff, and I just go crazy sometimes!
And maybe you know how that feels! But one day I’m gonna miss it! One day it’s not gonna be there, and I wish it was! I’d be sad that I didn’t take the opportunity! I’m not always just preaching to you; I’m preaching to myself too! Because you can’t control everything! In fact, you weren’t designed to! The purpose of you being here: what is your purpose? To trust God! How do you do that? In everything you do, you seek His will! And by just doing that, He makes your path straight! When you control, you do not allow God to lead you! And when you do not allow God to lead you, listen, you teach your children to do the same!
Abandon it! It’s time to jump out into the deep water and have faith that God is going to do something new, something powerful.
Lessons from Abraham and Sarah — Point 2
And my last point is this: I want to revisit this: Don’t rely on your own understanding! Isn’t that hard to do? You kind of hear that, and you’re like, «That sounds naive! Do you mean not rely on my own understanding?» And it doesn’t mean that God’s telling you not to like research it. It doesn’t mean that God’s telling you not to have an opinion or to look at any things or even to prepare for things that are coming. A lot of times God revealed prophecy and told them, «Hey, prepare now! I revealed this to you; this is for your life.» But what it means is that when God spoke to you the first time, you encountered God; He spoke a promise over your life.
Maybe you wrote it down; if you have it, I would encourage you: write it down and remind yourself over and over again what God has spoken. Because as long as you keep walking toward Him, it will come to pass! And it means for the mother to be able to let her child go and trust God, to have faith, to pray that you could have peace. Because God had to do a work in your life too! God had to do some things that you didn’t expect, and He had to bring you out of some things you never thought you’d come out of. But He did it because most likely someone was praying for you.
For the father, I started to think about this: it’s hard to lead the family when God is telling you to jump into the deep because it not only involves you; it also means your family jumps in the deep. And you want to provide, and you want to be strong. The strongest thing you can do and teach your children is to always trust the Lord because that’s not safe—and it’s heading toward a dangerous path. God has you!
I want to show you why their names were changed: Abram became Abraham; Sarai became Sarah. In Hebrew, this is what it means. So Abram in Hebrew means «exalted father, » an exalted father. But what took place? As soon as he trusted the Lord, died to his old self, he stepped into a promise which gave him a new name, a new fulfillment. And Abraham in Hebrew means «a father of multitude, » a father of many! «This is what I have for you!» And Sarai means «a princess, » but Sarah means «a princess of princesses.»
The same woman who said, «God has not given me what I want right now!» And He says, «No! I’m gonna change your name; I’m gonna change your heart; I’m gonna change how you think!» But there’s still one more test, and we see Abraham and Sarah moving now, and they have their son—their precious son Isaac—and everything that God spoke over their life has now come true! They’re happy, and they’re moving, and they’ve been blessed: «Look at our life! I can’t believe it! God did it!» But there was one more test.
And a lot of people read this story and do not understand—it’s powerful! One of the most powerful stories out of the entire Bible of love because Abraham was called by God, and God said, «I want you to go to the land of Moriah.» He’s very specific with that! And God said, «I want you to go and sacrifice your only son, Isaac.» And I wonder what Abraham’s face was like! Genesis chapter 22, verses 1 and 2: «Abraham!» God called. «Yes, » he replied. «Here I am.» And God said, «Take your son, your only son, yes, Isaac, whom you love so much. And I want you to go to the land of Moriah; go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will show you.»
How do you trust God again? You do not rely on your own understanding because if you know the character of God, you know that God was against this! There are many pagan religions, especially at this time, where they would sacrifice their own children in horrible, horrific ways. And God—that’s not His character; that’s not what the people of God did! And so when He told Abraham, Abraham immediately starts to think about what God could do. And I do because it shows a change: where before he kept trying to take things in control, now he’s saying, «Okay, God, I trust You! I’m going to show You.»
And in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 19, it says that Abraham thought, «Okay, I’m going to do this. I’m going to obey the Lord, and what God’s going to do is raise him from the dead.» Because why? Because God has already spoken a promise over my life! Let me show you Hebrews 11, chapter 19: «Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again!» Because what God speaks will come to pass, and God will not break His promise! Again, Hebrews 6, verse 18: «God has given both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie.»
But imagine—why here? Why now? Why me? Can I be stand? I’m going to finish the story; this word gets really good! He was committed, and his knife is in the air about to sacrifice his own son—his only son, the only thing that he’s prayed about and wanted. An angel of the Lord said, «Stop, Abraham! Don’t do it! This was a test!»
But have you ever read it and said, «God, why such an extreme test? Like, you’re making me feel it!» Like, «I can’t imagine you telling me that I had to wait until I was about a hundred years old to have a son, and then you want me to sacrifice him and do something that awful! Why would you want me to feel those feelings?» It’s about 2,000 years after that—only 800 yards away from this exact location. And another pastor said it best: he said, «God walked His Son up a hill, and He did not stop!»
So that we can abandon our control, so that Jesus would never abandon us! And God walked His Son, Jesus Christ, upon that cross, and this sacrifice did not stop! And now when you feel it like Abraham and Isaac, you think, «Oh my goodness, God, why would you say that?» And then you did that for me? That’s part of the story! And God is telling you, «Yes! But when are you going to let go of the control in your life? When are you gonna stop worrying about everything?»
If God can use a deflated kayak on stage, He could do anything! Trust the Lord! How do you do that? You abandon yourself; you don’t trust in your own understanding, your own wisdom, and in all that you do, you fulfill His will to glorify Him, and it’s God- not you! It’s God who will make your path straight! Amen!