Steven Furtick - God Is Bigger Than Your Problems
This is an excerpt from: Cover The Spread
Sometimes, for me, I don't know what that means to take it to the Lord in prayer. Well, Hezekiah gives us a way to go to God that I really think is going to help you with the letter you carried in here today, whether it's condemnation or temptation, whether it's an insecurity, or whether it is an actual attack from the Enemy that's happening in your life right now that only you know about. This would apply to any addiction you're dealing with, any problem you have today. Watch what Hezekiah did. "Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord". He spread it out before the Lord. Physically, he did that. He took the scroll. I'll act it out. This will be the scroll. He spread it out before the Lord.
If he carries it inside of himself, if he stays in his head, he doesn't know what to do, but he really doesn't know what to say either, so he spreads it out before the Lord. Both of those are so important. One tells me what he did, and one tells me where he did it. Both are important. The first thing he did was he spread it out. He's like, "God, I'm not going to read this over and over and over again and imagine all of the horrible things that can happen. Here". You need a space in your life for this season you're in, for these challenges you're facing that you've never faced before, for these Sennacheribs that are going on inside of your psychological state, because I think this is a mental battle more than it's anything… You need a space to be able to spread it out before the Lord.
Often, we don't, because when anxiety comes on us, it has a way of pushing us back down. So, we can't even sit with anything very long without sinking into it. To spread out something before the Lord means you can sit with him in an uncomfortable feeling, that you can sit with him even as the temptation is coming like a wave. Some of you have been convinced by the Enemy that you can't sit with what you feel, so anytime you feel something uncomfortable, you just run from that. You just strip some more gold off the temple and say, "Here, Sennacherib. I don't like this feeling of being attacked, so I'll just do it the Enemy's way".
That's what a lot of addiction is, whether that addiction is to thinking, pills, food…you name it. Any of our addictions are often traced to something we will not sit in. "I don't like how this feels, so I'll just give the Devil my gold. I'll just give the Devil my peace. I'll even give him my whole family if you will just stop making me feel this way". You do not resist him because, somewhere along the line, you have bought the lie that this is bigger than you. Well, it might be, but guess what I know about it, whatever it is? Do you know where I'm going? How big is it? How big is this problem? How big is this enemy? How big? You're like, "It's really big, Preacher. Like, really, really big". How big is it? Well, that depends on what it's up against.
Here we go. You're like, "No, I'm going through some real stuff. You don't even know. You're just up here preaching. I'm going up against something that's real". Okay. It's real, but it's also relative. Everything is relative. I found this out watching my dog. I say "My dog". I don't do anything for him. It's their dog. Their dog is a Boston Terrier named Bo. Do y'all remember when I told the whole church, "I'm getting the family a dog"? I did. He's not too big, but when he was meeting his cousin, I guess, Holly's parents' dog… What relation would that make them?
Anyway… What kind of dog is Yoyo? Yoyo was a Chihuahua and Coco… I'm going to work this out in a minute. A Morkie. What's a Morkie? All right. Coco is really little. Bo is big when he's with Coco. Bo met Coco. Bo was a bully because he was big. Then Bo met Toby, their dog. Toby is a Goldendoodle, bigger than a Boston Terrier. Y'all got the picture? Bo, Coco, Toby. Bo was a bully with Coco because Bo was big with Coco. Bo with Toby was not a bully. Bo was a…sweetheart. (I don't want to get canceled. I'm only 43.) Bo was really nice. Bo was on his best behavior with Toby, because how big it is is relative to what it's up against. So, when the Devil is picking on you, that's a sign you haven't reminded him lately what he's really up against. When he starts telling you, "There's no way out of this one…" That's because you didn't take him to the God of Moses lately who opened up an ocean to get his people through.
When he's telling you, "You're going down," you didn't show him the God of David lately who can take a rock and a renegade and a rag and knock down a whole army. If he's telling you, "You're not going to make it," you haven't reminded him lately because he is God, no matter the odds, the outcome is we win! The way-maker is in the house, y'all. The odds-maker is in the house. You might be down by 185,000 soldiers, but God said, "I'll cover the spread". Watch out if you want to be home in time for dinner, because I will preach this thing until that Boston Terrier that has been nipping at your belief, been nipping at your future, been nipping at your sanity, been nipping at your sobriety… I will drive back every devil with the mention of one name! They hung him high. They stretched him wide. He saw my sin. He shed his blood. They put him in the ground, but he said, "I'll cover the spread".
"Come one, come all, just as you are. I know you're not enough. I'll cover it. I know you're not enough. I'll cover it. I know you don't have it. I do". "You have no idea who you're up against, Devil. And it's not me. I'm a Morkie. But have you met my master"? Come on, let's get ready! Let's get ready to tell Sennacherib that the angel is coming. The angel of God is coming! The angel of God over your family. The angel of God over your finances. The angel of God over your physical diagnosis. The angel! There's so much I want to say to you. You've been giving God your problem, and that's good, but let's change it a little bit.
That ain't no Morkie over there. That's a man of God right there. Help me preach this. I'm going to give you this for the rest of your life. You listen to me good and you listen to me young and you listen to me now. Y'all play him back this when he's a little older. Listen to this. You can give God your problem, but make sure you also give your problem God. I think that's what it is. You've been spreading it out before everything and everybody but God. Watch what Hezekiah did. He spread it out before the Lord.
Now, remember, it's not just what he did…he spread it out. This is going to be some of y'all, right? You're going to take this message. You are going to pull out that overdrawn bank account balance on your app and say, "Here, God. I did what he said. Here's my scroll, God. I am scrolling to this balance on my bank account, and I'm bringing it to you. Here, God". And the angel won't come. But here's what he did that I thought was so significant. When he spread it out before the Lord, he prayed. "Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim…"
What's that about? If you remember, in the temple was something called the ark of the covenant, which was overlaid acacia wood and gold on the top. On the top where the gold was two and a half cubits, there were two angels, one on one side and one on the other. Those angels had wings that were spread up, and those wings touched in the middle. Exodus, chapter 37, gives the details. When Hezekiah was spreading out his problem before God, he was looking at the ark of the covenant where those angels had spread their wings over him. Those angel wings on the golden cover of the wooden box that housed the symbolic presence of almighty God… Those wings were touching to remind Hezekiah, "While you're giving me your problem and reminding me of what you need, make sure you remind your problem of who I am".