Friday, November 21, 2014
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My son had dreamed about an old Mustang for years and he saw one advertised for a great price so, he sold some of his baseball card collection, became the proud owner of a 1968 Mustang.
Now, he invited me to take a drive in it, so I got in and turned the key. It roared to life. Several birds nearby were upset by it, and I started up the driveway. It was okay at the top of the driveway, and then I found out what I didn't like about that very cool car-turning it. Okay let's face it, I'm spoiled! I've got power steering, I've had it for years! Now, you don't want to try to turn that Mustang. It's like a total body operation. You sort of wrap yourself around the steering wheel several times. It's kind of corkscrew turning. Now, I never asked to drive the Mustang much after that. Honestly, it was just too hard to turn.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hard To Turn."
Our word for today from the Word of God - very sobering - comes from Isaiah 30:1-2. Some of us might be in this verse, listen carefully, "'Woe to the obstinate children,' declares the Lord, 'to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh's protection, to Egypt's shade for refuge.'" Well you can tell what God's talking about here; stubborn children. Too often I think, I've been one of those. How about you?
James Dobson, years ago, wrote a book about strong-willed children. Well, God could write a book about me like that. See, when I read verses like this I keep thinking about that Mustang and how God might be saying, "Ron, you are so hard to turn!" See, the people who are hard to turn are the ones who are most likely to miss God's best. We make up our mind what needs to be done, how it needs to be done, when it has to happen, and we start driving full speed in that direction.
But God says, "No, I want you to go this way" or "Wait! Not yet." Now it could be that you consulted the Lord at the beginning, and you got His direction, and you started going His way. And He's still directing you but all of the sudden you've gone off on your own. Or he made a turn and you did not make it with Him. So you're no longer on the road He was on. He's been trying to lead you every day but you decided you could make it happen. I think those are the people who are the most prone to missing God's best, those of us who are "make it happen" people instead of "let God do it" people. And you could be in a very dangerous position right now.
You know in Galatians 3:3 I find that Paul asks what I consider to be one of the most probing questions in the New Testament. He says, "After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" Yeah you started out on the right road when you were just new at it, when it was a new thing you were desperately dependant, you were following Jesus very carefully but all the sudden now, you've taken charge and He can't turn you. Control freaks, many of us. And He might be, today, coming to you, trying to warn you to let go of that wheel or to take a turn that He's directing you to take. If you don't, you start using people, forcing it to happen. Or you blaze another trail, another schedule. You go after some desire of your own. Your plans are not of Him, you're not consulting Him and He says "Woe to those people." You are heaping sin upon sin, making one mistake after another.
Jesus said, "Follow me." I've followed people in a city that I didn't know where I was going and you know what I found out it takes to follow someone? It takes focus and flexibility. To totally focus on them and make sure you keep watching what they're doing because if they make a turn and you miss it, you're on the wrong road. And that means you've got to be flexible. Focus and flexibility; without that, you can't follow Jesus.
I want you to picture, you're driving down the road and you see a hitchhiker by the side of the road and you pull over, even though you don't usually do that, and you open the door and there's Jesus standing there by the passenger side. You say, "Jesus, would you please get in and ride with me." He'll say, "No, I won't." You say, "why not, Jesus?" He'll say, "Because I don't ride, I drive."
Who's driving right now? Make sure it's Jesus.