Sermon Central
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Our Directions Determines Our Destination
Contributed by Dr. Odell Belger on Jun 19, 2025 (message contributor)
Summary: In this scripture passage, I want to show you a family that lived among God’s people, and then due to some hard times, they packed up and moved.
You might be saying, “So what!”
People move from one city to another all the time because of HARD TIMES!
That is correct, but anytime we find something in the Word of God, it is there for a reason.
WHAT IS THE REASON GOD PUT THIS FAMILY IN THE SCRIPTURES FOR MOVING?
Because it was a mistake for them to move, it was a very costly MISTAKE!!!
God placed them in the Holy Scriptures that we might learn from her mistake.
Let me show you two things…
(1)WHAT WAS HER MISTAKE?
They were a family with a problem that looked in the wrong places for the solution to their problem.
Illus: This family makes us think of the psalmist in Psalm 121. In this Psalm, he tells us about the heathens of that day.
They also looked in the wrong places to solve their problems.
They would erect their idols on the top of the mountains. When they had problems, they would head to the mountains too pray to these idols for the help.
In Psalm 121, the psalmist makes a sarcastic reference to their going there to pray to their idols.
Look at verse 1, we read, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.”
David was ACTUALLY saying, “When I have a problem shall I also lift up my eyes unto the hills for the solution to my problems?”
Of course, the answer to that question is absolutely not!
Instead, he said in verse 2, he says, “My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.”
He is saying two things:
(1) In other words, “No, I will not turn to the idols of this world for the help I need,”
(2) He says that his help, “…Cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.”
Notice, after saying His help, “…cometh from the Lord…” he also said of the Lord, “…which made heaven and earth.”
In other words, David was saying that he did not make the God he served. He said my God made me and everything in the heavens and earth.
Then, in the remaining verses, he tells us WHY HE TURNED TO THE LIVING GOD FOR HIS HELP.
Look at Psalm 121:3-8, he says, “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”
David did not make the mistake that many are making today, nor did he make the mistake this family made in the Old Testament.
THIS FAMILY WENT TO THE WRONG PLACE TO HAVE THEIR PROBLEMS SOLVED!
WHAT CAUSED THEM TO GO TO THE WRONG PLACE?
Verse 1 might shed some light on why they made the foolish decision to move to Moab.
Notice in verse 1, the Bible makes a point of telling us that the bad decision they made took place during the days when the JUDGES RULED over Israel.
Why does God’s word tell us that it was during THE DAYS OF THE JUDGES when they made this decision?
• Because during the DAYS OF THE JUDGES, it was a time of SIN and DEBAUCHERY in the land.
• It was a time when every man did what was right in his own eyes, not GOD’S EYES!
It is a dangerous thing to live in an evil society.
WHY?
BECAUSE IT CAN AFFECT US IN OUR DECISION MAKING!
Today, America is known worldwide for many things.
Let me illustrate…
Regrettably, one of the things that America is known for is the SIN and the DEBAUCHERY IN THE LAND.
And make no mistake about it, when people live in a country that is surrounded by evil, it will affect the people who live there in their decisions.
For example…
• We see adults doing things in America that shocks us. Why? Because they are affected by the evils of this land.
• We see young people doing things that shock us. Why? Because they are affected by the evils of this land.
• We see children going to grammar school with guns, shooting their classmates.
Why?
Because they are affected by the evils of this land, where they see killings on the television every day of their lives. They live in a nation that is filled with violence and sin and SIN NO LONGER SHOCK THEM!!! It has become the NORM!
Illus: According to the Federal Communications CommissionThe average American child will witness 12,000 violent acts on Television each year, amounting to about 200,000 violent acts by the time he turns 18 years old.
