Enlarge Your Tent Series

Enlarge your tent, Isaiah 54:2

Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ

February 24, 2002

The man told his doctor that he wasn’t able to do all the things around the house that he used to do. When the examination was complete, he said, "Now, Doc, I can take it. Tell me in plain English what is wrong with me."

"Well, in plain English," the doctor replied, "you’re just lazy."

"Okay," said the man. "Now give me the medical term so I can tell my wife."

We are creatures of habit we all want to get around like we used to, It is out tendency to resist being stretched.

We have gotten comfortable, and established in a routine. Someone has said that Ruts are just open ended graves. But for most of us Ruts define the way we live.

We get up every morning and get out of that some old bed, put on those same old clothes, walk to that same old table, eat that same old breakfast, pack that same old lunch, put those same old kids on the bus, kiss that same old spouse, drive that same old car to that same old job, get off at the same old time, drive down that same old street, pull into that same old drive, have that same old dinner, watch that same old program, get in that same old bed. Then you get up the next morning to do the same old thing all over again.

And you think, that’s life. Friends that’s not life!

Two hunters got a pilot to fly them into the far north for elk hunting. They were quite successful in their venture and bagged six big bucks. The pilot came back, as arranged, to pick them up.

They started loading their gear into the plane, including the six elk. But the pilot objected and he said, "The plane can only take four of your elk; you will have to leave two behind."

They argued with him; the year before they had shot six and the pilot had allowed them to put all aboard. The plane was the same model and capacity. Reluctantly, the pilot finally permitted them to put all six aboard. But when the attempted to take off and leave the valley, the little plane could not make it and they crashed into the wilderness.

Climbing out of the wreckage, one hunter said to the other, "Do you know where we are?"

"I think so," replied the other hunter. "This is just about the same place where we crashed last year."

Someone has said

"Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is called insanity"

We didn’t mean to but we settled into routine.

If you do what you’ve always done you get what you’ve always gotten, for some that means spiritual barrenness. We didn’t mean to but we became spiritually soft. When we fall into those routines, our lives no longer bear the same kind of fruitfulness for God’s purpose.

In Isaiah 54 The people of Israel were experiencing spiritual barrenness. The people were thirsty for God to do something in their life. They were tired of the same old answers and the same old dialogue. They were people who were honestly seeking God to feed their souls.

Friends, have you ever felt like that?

Have you ever been so thirsty for God. Your life has the same old things it had a year ago. You find yourself searching for meaning in the grayness that just seems to blend from day to day. One of the reasons that Groundhog Day was so popular as a movie is because so many people feel like every day is the same for them.

Isaiah is writing about people who are craving meaning in their life. He is saying that a day will come when God will ask something incredible of you.

Through the corridors of time perhaps you can hear Isaiah calling to you today. Maybe you can hear God whispering in your ear this morning.

The key to Christian living is to go when God asks you to go and to wait for Him when he is patient. But for each person God will ask you at some point to do the things in Isaiah 54.

I’m real excited about the next 4 weeks here. Because I really believe that they have the potential for us to tap into the voice of God in 2 ways. First I believe that in the next 4 weeks God is going to speak to us as a church. But I also pray that during the next few weeks you will tune in personally and listen to what God is asking you to do. How will you be a part of what God wants to do?