TD Jakes - How to Steward God's Revelation and Provisions
I can see clearly now he came to himself and he said, «I got the plant, but I left the source. I got the plant, but I left the sauce. I got the fish, but I left the water. I got the blessing, but I left the Blesser. Absolutely, I got the healing, but I left the healer. I ran off with the stuff without the source. I will arise.» This is what an epiphany will do for you when you’re surrounded by pigs. If you want to know who you are, show me who you hang out with. When you’re surrounded by pigs and you know you’re with them but you’re not really one of them, oh, I’ve got to stop right there for just a minute.
There are a lot of people you run with that you are not one of; but because they accept you, you’re a prince hanging out with a pig. And of course, the pig needs you, and of course, the pig likes you, and of course, the pig makes you feel important. It’s a pig; it’s got nothing to lose. You’re a prince in a field of pigs. There’s something wrong with it. Anytime you seek the lowest and not the highest, anytime you feel more comfortable with less than you do with more, with down instead of up, anytime you will not give yourself permission to get up and instead lay in the hog pen of a bed full of excuses and a backpack with mud mats around your head, flies all in your hair, and you’re a child of the King—that’s, uh, glory to God, promotion! Glory to God! Glory to God!
You’re a child of the King; you’re not a pig. You’re a child of the King. And the moment he had a revelation, the first thing he said, even before he mentioned his father, was, «I will arise.» Not somebody telling him; he decided, «I’m getting up out of this.» Just because it comforts me does not mean it compels me. Often, what comforts us does not compel us because what comforts us requires nothing of us. The pigs asked nothing of him, and so he could lie with the pigs and fill his belly with the corn husks that the swine did eat. We don’t even eat corn husks. There isn’t a person in this room who cooks corn husks. He wanted to fill his belly with the leftovers, with what the pigs left.
And the first thing he realizes is, «I can’t go until I get up.» So watch this, brothers—it feels so good; it feels like family all in the room. He makes a decision. I don’t think there’s anything as powerful as a decision. A decision is one of God’s great gifts; he gave it to men. He didn’t give it to chickens; he didn’t give it to goats; he didn’t give it to apes; he didn’t give it to snakes; he gave it to us—the power to make a decision. The «I will» is our answer to God’s «I am.» I will arise, and instead of waiting for my father to come to me—because some of you say, «I ain’t gonna forgive him till he comes to me. I’m not gonna take it till it comes to me. I’m not gonna change till they come to me"—you’re gonna die with the pigs because you need an epiphany. He says, «I will arise and go to my father’s house.»
And this—watch this! I ain’t going back talking about if I did anything to offend you. He took complete responsibility for what he did. How long may you live? We preach together; we preach together, me and you. We preach together! He comes in and says, «I am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as a hired servant,» because ever since I had an epiphany, I miss what I left so badly that I would rather be a servant in your house—a slave in your house is better than a free man lost. When I was thinking about it, Jackie, I thought about how Hagar got smart with Sarah; she, the slave, got smart with the woman of the house, packed her stuff, and ran out into the desert, thinking because she was around greatness that she had become greatness.
Some folks you can’t let around you because they can’t handle being around you; they start thinking it’s them. And the arrogance! Oh God, I’m preaching this morning! I believe I’m gonna get this CD myself. The arrogance! Sometimes God can’t let you in the room because you can’t handle the room. Hagar gets in the room with greatness and she can’t handle it. Now she’s telling her boss off—are you a fool? Now she’s out in the desert, left her job, went out in the desert with her baby, and almost died. And God told her, «Go back to your mistress Sarah because I have put your provision in her house.»
Can you imagine Hagar having to go back and say, «Uh, I know I slammed the door and walked out and didn’t give a notice and quit and ran off, but, uh, the Lord gave me an epiphany, and I wanted to come back. Can I wash your sheets for you and set out the tables for you?» See how humble you’ve got to be to make a change? To make a change, do you see how much crow you’ve got to eat when you showed off and walked away? Good one that God hadn’t provided for her but He provided for her in Sarah’s house. That doesn’t mean He’ll provide for you in the desert. The provision was conditional on the place; always. If you leave the place, you lose the provision. Am I saying anything worthwhile? So I’m gonna wrap up with this. He said, «Make me one of your hired servants.»
His father ran out there and kissed his neck and hugged him. He stayed, and there’s hair and flies all around him. He’s got manure between his toes, and he smells like a pig. There was no hotel to shower him before he got back home and he’s been walking for miles to get back. He’s sweaty, he’s musty, he’s smelly, and he’s broken and wounded. But he’s my son! Absolutely! Do you know God loves you like that? He’ll take you; he’s my son. And the son says, «Daddy, I don’t expect things to be like they were.»
Step two: don’t come back expecting things to be like they were after you have proven to be unfaithful. Don’t come back and expect everything to be normal. He said, «I don’t expect it to be like it was. It might be normal, but don’t you demand it. Because before you make demands, be sure you’re in demand.» Come on with this! Come on with this! Come on! Just so, he said, «Make me a hired servant. Make me a hired servant, even though I’m related to you, even though I’ve got your nose and your lips and stuff, and I’ve got my grandmama’s forehead and my grandfather’s ears. I’m like I’m not related and I’ll work for you like a servant if you let me back.»
Because there’s something about being in the right place, John. Of course, if there wasn’t something about being in the right place, you wouldn’t be here this morning. There’s something about being in the right place that provokes a blessing. And he went back home, and his father told the servants—the father told the servants, the whole man was loaded! The father told the servants. The boy had been talking to pigs; the father’s talking to servants. He said, «Bring the robe and put it on him!» It covered up everything he had done wrong. «Put the ring on his finger!» The ring was the family crest that identified him as one of them. You don’t belong out there with them; you belong with us!