TD Jakes - Discovered Because of Destiny
Hagar is on the run, trying to get away from Sarai. She’s trying to get as far away as she can, wanting to escape where Sarah’s power can no longer treat her badly. She wants to break free from the jurisdiction of her abuser. Sometimes, people talk about what you’re running to, how fast you’re running, and how aggressive you are in your career; they don’t notice that sometimes it’s not about what you’re running to, but what you’re running from. She’s trying to get away from Sarai—trying to distance herself from her as much as she can. She went deep into the desert; there she is, pregnant and in the desert, running from her mistress.
Then, the Bible says something that I want to share with you today: the angel of the Lord found her. Good God Almighty! I don’t care where you run, how many churches you change, how many states you move to, or even how many countries you visit; you can’t go anywhere where God can’t find you. If you go into a strip club, He can find you. If you go to a house of ill repute, He can find you. If you enter a crack house, He can find you. If you join the witches, He can find you. I don’t care where you go; God will always find you. The angel of the Lord found her. When God goes searching for you, He will find you. I know you like to say you found the Lord, but it’s not true; you did not find the Lord because the Lord was never lost. You did not find the Lord; the Lord found you.
Whatever you were doing, however you were doing it, with whomever you were doing it, when God gets ready to find you, He can always find you. The Bible states that the angel of the Lord found Hagar. Wait a minute; I want to thank Him for being able to find me! He found me in my low state; He found me in my depression; He found me in my fear; He found me in my happenstance; He found me in my chaos. He found me when my mother couldn’t find me; He found me when my father couldn’t find me; He found me when my wife couldn’t find me; He found me when my sister couldn’t find me; He found me when my brother couldn’t find me. God can find you; He knows where you are.
Then I have to stop and give Him praise for something else: that God would send an angel after a slave. I know why He found Jeremiah; Jeremiah was to be the weeping prophet. I know why He found Isaiah; Isaiah was to be the eagle-eyed prophet. I know why He found Daniel; Daniel was going to teach us about eschatology. I know why He sought so many others, but for God to chase after a slave must mean that this woman is more important than we think. I’m going to teach a Bible class Wednesday night, and I will show you some things that really connect with this message.
So if you love this message, you’re really going to love Wednesday night Bible class. He found her because she was carrying destiny; He found her because she was carrying legacy. He found her because she was pregnant with God’s plan; He found her because she was pregnant with God’s purpose. When you have legacy within you, when you have destiny inside you, you may not have money in your pocket, you may have holes in your shoes, or your hair may be disheveled, but it’s not what’s on your body; it’s what’s inside of you. God found her because she was carrying a part of His plan, purpose, and destiny, and He kept hunting until He found her. Do you not know that God is on the hunt for you? He’s worse than the CIA; He’s worse than the FBI.
When God is on the hunt for you, He will find you. It’s not what’s on you; it’s what’s inside of you. She might have been invisible to everybody else, but she was important to God because God knew there was purpose even in Sarah’s foolishness. Only God can take bad mistakes and make them work out for good; only God can take bad choices and make them end up fitting into His plan. We know, in Romans 8:28, that all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord. I feel like preaching this morning! I said all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord. The situation might not have been good, but God was working it for good. The situation might have been foolish, but God was working it for good. The situation might have been crazy, but God will work it for good. God was working on their behalf, and they didn’t even know it.
And there Sarai is—she’s on the run; she’s a runaway slave, running away from Sarai, from the situation, from pain, from problems. You can’t run away from problems; if you run from them, they will always catch up with you. God found her. He found her. Stop running! Stop running! Make a note to yourself to stop running. Make a note to face reality. You cannot heal what you will not confront. Stop running. I don’t care how they threaten you; I don’t care how much they intimidate you; I don’t care what they say about you. You might as well stand up and face it like a grown woman or a grown man. You’ll never succeed by running away from what you have to confront. God found her; she had to be important for God to search her out. She had to be someone for God to go on the hunt for her. She had to be someone for God to look her up; she had to be someone for God to send an angel to say, «Don’t stop pursuing until you find her.»
The Bible states that the angel of the Lord found Hagar and asked, «Hagar, what are you doing here?» I want to talk to someone and ask you a question: What are you doing here? Knowing what you know, having experienced what you have experienced, what are you doing in this desert? How did you get to this dry place? How did you get to a point where you’ve given up your prayer life and your confidence? What are you doing here that you have reduced yourself to this level? You know you were not made to be in a desert; you know your provision is not there. What are you doing here? She looks at the angel and says, «I was running away from my mistress.» Then the angel delivers this message: «I want you to go back to what you were running from.»
Now, that is a scary thing. If I were scared enough to run, now you want me to go back to the very thing I was running from? You might as well face it; you might as well stand up to it. It is what it is. It’s going to do what it’s going to do, and it’s going to be what it’s going to be. You might as well turn around and go back to it. You can’t spend the rest of your life running from everything that is uncomfortable. I want to talk to someone who has spent your life running from uncomfortable situations. As soon as the job got hard, you quit.
As soon as the situation got tough, you gave up. As soon as the business got difficult, you caved in. As soon as the marriage had conflict, you surrendered. You have been running from situations all your life, and your takeaway word this Sunday morning is to stop running. If I stop right here and don’t preach another word, your word from the Lord is to stop running. You’ve gone far enough; there’s nothing in that desert for you, and God said to stop running. If you keep running, you will never be anybody. If you keep running, you will never discover your purpose. If you keep running, you will never find out who you are in God. If you keep running, you will never understand what you have inside of you.
If you keep running, you will always have low self-esteem. If you keep running, you will never become what God intended for you to be. Stop running! Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Steady yourself, prepared and ready for battle. The angel spoke to her and said, «Stop running.» I’ve never seen a person respect themselves if they are always running away. This is past how Sarai feels about you; this is past how Abram feels about you. I’m talking about how you feel about yourself. You’ll never respect yourself if you keep quitting. Do you not know that God said, «I will heal you from backsliding?» I didn’t even know backsliding was a disease, but God said, «I will heal you from backsliding. I will heal you from running. I will heal you from giving up. I will heal you from stopping. I will heal you of always living in 'almost.' I almost did it. I almost finished school. I almost got a degree. I almost bought a house. I almost got married. I almost had a friend.»
God said, «I will heal you from backsliding. I will heal you from giving up.» Incidentally, the word «backsliding» isn’t just going back; it’s actually sitting down. Whenever a mule gets stubborn and sits down, its back bends at a certain angle, and they call that backsliding. Anytime you sit down on your purpose, anytime you sit down on your destiny, anytime you sit down in a desert and prepare to die, the desert isn’t killing you; it’s you sitting down that’s killing you. The angel told us to stop running. «I want you to go back to your mistress.»
Now, in my mind, in my quirky way of thinking, if the angel had come to me and told me to return to the very person I had been running from, I would have felt nervous, upset, anxious, uncomfortable, and afraid. I would have trepidation about coming back into this situation again. But instead of being afraid, she got happy. She got happy in the desert. Oh, wait a minute; I want to talk about being happy in the desert. She got happy in the desert. You don’t have to wait until you reach the mansion to be happy; you can get happy in the desert. You don’t have to wait until all your bills are paid; you can get happy in the desert.
The best praise God ever got was a sacrifice of praise. I dare you to praise Him in the middle of your trouble; I dare you to praise Him in the middle of your problem; I dare you to praise Him in the middle of your storm; I dare you to praise Him while you’re under attack; I dare you to praise Him while you wait for the answer. I dare you to praise Him in your dilemma; I dare you to praise Him without knowing how things will turn out. Just stand still in the middle of the desert and say, «I’m going to praise you right here.» There is no praise like desert praise. Oh, I wish I had some people watching me this morning who would give God a desert praise! I don’t have money, but I have a praise. I’m running out of food, but I have a praise. I don’t have a job, but I have a praise. I’m going through a crisis, but I have a praise.
See, the devil wants you to cry in the desert, but Hagar got happy in the desert and began to praise her God. Somebody take a minute and give God praise in the middle of your desert! I’m praising you—I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m praising you! I don’t know what she’s going to say, but I’m praising you! I don’t know what I must endure, but I’m praising you right in the middle of my desert! Hell gets nervous when you praise God in the desert; demons tremble at your praise. Praise Him in your living room; praise Him at your kitchen table! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! There she is, praising God in the middle of the desert. God always uses people who can praise Him without a crowd.
Anyone can praise Him in a crowd; anyone can praise Him with noise; anyone can praise Him with great music. But God is looking for someone who can praise Him in isolation; God is looking for someone who can praise Him without an amen; God is looking for someone who can praise Him all by themselves. And she wasn’t just praising Him for the sake of praise; she wasn’t praising Him because she took a class on five steps to quick praise. She wasn’t praising Him because she read a book on the power of praise. She wasn’t praising Him because she knew the Hebrew words for praise. She was praising Him because she said, «El-Roi.» El-Roi is a word you might not be familiar with; it is a Hebrew word that means God sees me—for somebody who’s never been seen, for somebody who’s always been overlooked, for somebody who’s never been regarded, for somebody who’s never had a chance, for somebody that everybody walked past, for somebody that thought your time would never come.
There’s a joy when you think аbout: God sees me. There she is in the desert; she hasn’t eaten yet. There she is in the desert, and yet she’s praising God just because He sees her. The Lord sent me here to tell you this Sunday morning: I see you! I see you! I see you! I know you don’t have any money, but I see you. I know you don’t have any title, but I see you. I know you’ve been through a lot of haters, but I see you. I know you’ve made some bad mistakes, but God said, «I see you.» Do you know what it is to get God’s attention, to know that God is mindful of me? Why is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him? God wants you to know: I see you.
Abram might not see you, Sarah may not see you, your circumstances may not honor you, but God sees you. She said, «El Roi!» Oh, El Roi! El Roi, I want you to write that down. El Roi, I want you to put it on your computer. El Roi, I want you to add it into your praise language. El Roi, devil, you can’t do whatever you want to do because El Roi! Enemy, you cannot have my body because of El Roi! I will not be a skeleton because El Roi! I will not be a carcass in the desert because El Roi! The buzzards will not eat up my flesh because El Roi! I will not come to a negative end because El Roi! I will not die in my desert because El Roi! Here, somebody is in the desert right now, and the devil’s been telling you: this is all you are, this is what you deserve, this is all you’re ever gonna be!
Where you are is as far as you’ll go! Your mama never got anywhere, your daddy never got anywhere, and you’re not gonna get anywhere! But you put your hands on your hips and look the devil right in the face and say, «El Roi! Yes, El Roi! Here, God sees right where I am! God knows right where I am! God knows what I’m going through! God sees how I feel! God sees what’s happening in my life! God sees me! God sees me! God sees me! That God sees me!» She threw her hands up and said, «El Roi! God sees me! I must be somebody! Oh, I must be somebody! El Roi! I must have some value! El Roi! I must have a purpose! El Roi! I must be in the plan! El Roi, El Roi, God sees me!»
Yes, working a part-time job, but El Roi! Flipping burgers at a burger shop, but El Roi! Living off of unemployment, but El Roi! My body is wracked with pain, but El Roi! Worked double shifts for two weeks, but El Roi! Husband walked out the door, but El Roi! Wife don’t care nothing about me, but El Roi! God, God, God, God sees you! He sees you! He sees what’s in you! He sees what you shall be! And they began to prophesy to that old girl, and they told her, «You’re gonna bring forth a child! His name shall be called Ishmael! Said he will be a wild man! His hands shall be against all men, and all men shall be against him! But out of him shall come a great nation!»
How can greatness come out of weakness? How can greatness come out of despair? How can greatness come out of disappointment? How can greatness come out of heartache? I’ll tell you how: El Roi! If God sees him, they might mean it for evil, but He’ll make it work out for good! If God sees you, you might be in a weak place, but God will bring greatness out of your life! El Roi! That’s what I want you to understand! He sits high, but He looks down low. He’s got all power in His hand, and He sent me to tell you that He sees you!
Now she’s on the way back! Good God Almighty! The woman who was running this way has had an encounter with God that made her do a 180. I feel a turnaround! Somebody ought to do a 180 right in your house! God’s about to turn some things around! What you were running from, you’re getting ready to run to! God’s gonna do a 180! You don’t want a 360 because a 360 will take you back where you were. You need a 180! God’s going to give you a complete turnaround! And here comes Hagar back down the road! The angel told her: «There is no provision for you in the run; the provision is in the fight. But there is no provision for you on the run; the provision is in the fight!»
Stop running from the fight and turn around and go back home, because I have put your provisions in the house of Sarai! That’s why the enemy’s trying to run you out, because your provisions are right there! And it’s only a matter of time until you see God provide for you. But the problem is you have gotten out of place!
You left it because it was tough! You left it because it was hard! You left it because it hurt your feelings! You left it because you weren’t recognized! You left it because you weren’t appreciated! You left it because it got difficult! You left it because it was complicated! You left it because it wasn’t easy! You left it because it hurt your feelings! You left it because it made you cry! But what you don’t understand is that God is providing for you in trouble! You didn’t hear me! God is providing for you in trouble! The Bible said that God is a present help in trouble! If you run from the trouble, you’re running from God!